Research Topics: Human Resource Manager

Influence of PEST Factor on HR Policies in the Spheres

Employee training and development is an attempt to improve current or future employee performance by increasing, through learning, an employee’s ability to perform, usually by increasing his or her skills and knowledge (Schuler et al., 1992). Employee training and development is important in any organization to increased job satisfaction and morale of employees. It is also important to increase employees’ motivation and the efficiencies in the process would result  for the company to gain financially. Moreover, it can increase innovation in strategies and products. This would also result on the reduction of employees’ turnover. Furthermore, training and development enhance company image and risk management.             An organization’s human resource development system is a key mechanism for enabling the achievement of business goals through what has been argued to be one of the few remaining sources of competitive advantage which are the people (Pedler et. al. 1988). Policies of the human resource are affected by the macro environmental factors which are also known as the PEST factors. This includes political, economic, social and technological factors. One part of the human resource system, which is training and development, has been promoted as a key strategic lever in the attainment of competitive advantage (Pfeffer 1994). Bartel (1994); Knoke and Kalleberg (1994); Russell, Terborg and Powers (1985) research, suggests that training and development is linked to positive organizational outcomes. It is also closely linked to national contextual factors such as the political system that play an important role in determining the types and levels of skills available in the labor market as well as in shaping national values and approaches to training and development issues. National context can therefore be considered a key predictor of organizational HRD practice.             Human resource training and development policies differ from every other country. This is because the state determines if the training policies an organization should disseminate to their organization.             Brewster and Hegewisch (1994), Brewster (1995), and Ferner (1997) concluded that there is considerable evidence that the national context of a firm’s operations plays a significant role in shaping organizational practices. Sparrow, Schuler and Jackson (1994) identified clusters of countries showing how organizations in the different parts of the world operationalized, HRM differently as a result of environmental pressures. In Germany, highly regulated institutional arrangement restricted the freedom of large companies to go on their own way on HRM and IR issues (Muller 1998). Cultural studies of Hofstede (1990), Laurent (1986), and Ronen (1986) reveals that people of different countries share values, cognitions, and behaviors which differentiate them from other cultures.             In addition, national legal frameworks have also an impact on organizations. collective agreements which differ in scope and centralization across countries define a range of organizational practices ( Gutstaffson, 1990;Wise 1993;Fillela and Hegewisch 1994); while Pieper 1990 identified legal differences in education certification, recruitment and dismissal procedures in Europe and the United States that make for significantly different HRM practices in those countries. There is also evidence that specific legislation has led to different training and development.              French government, for example, re-evaluated organizational-based training that has resulted for companies with more than 10 employees required by law to spend a specified percentage of the annual pay-roll on training. Today, this policy has extended to include companies employing less than 10 people. Legislation also requires companies to devise a training plan in consultation with work councils (Tregaskis and Dany 1996). The work council in France acts as an additional pressure to ensure that training and development is carried out by all organization.             Holden and Livian (1992) argued that current government policy has resulted in an increased awareness of training investment levels by human resource specialists in French companies compared to other countries. Holt-Larsen (1994) also added that evidence has suggested that the legislation in France has had a positive effect on training expenditure which is, on average, higher than that for other countries in which reported in 1992, more than two percent of the annual salary and wages budget was spent on employee training and development by 80 percent of companies in France compared with 26 percent in the U.K. However, the impact on the efficacy of the employee development system is less clear. In contrast, the UK government dismissed the idea of a training levy with the abolition of the Industrial Training Boards. Instead, intervention takes place through government policy aimed at influencing organizational training and development activity. The three primary mechanisms for implementing government policy are: the promotion of ‘best practice’ via initiatives such as Investors in People (IIP) and National training Awards (NTA). These initiatives aim to increase training levels which are criticized as being too low and detrimental to national competitiveness (IMS/NEDO/MSC 1984; Keep 1989a; Prais et al. 1991; Steedman and Wagner 1989; Worswick 1985). Secondly is that local rather than national delivery of training via training and enterprise councils (TECs) and local enterprise councils (LECs) to effectively identify skill need and deliver against that need. They also focus on how employee development systems should be conctructed to be effective and efficient (DFEE 1995). Finally, the adaptation of a competence-based approach to vocational education in order to provide nationally recognized skills’ qualifications and meet the demands of employers. The current government policy is not without criticism (Ashton and Felstead 1995; keep and Mayhew 1996). However, its emphasis is considerably different from that of the French government and as such is likely to have an impact on how employee development is managed in UK companies. The economic system of a country also has significant impact on the human resource policies. For example, in China’s economy wherein there is an undergoing market transition from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy, that is, a market economy with Chinese characteristics. With this new market transition, management practices are affected especially human resource management practices and also human behavior needed much revision. Shenkar & Chow in 1989 state sthat production and reward systems are changing with a stronger emphasis on efficiency and performance. In addition, Meindl, Hunt and Lee (1987, cited in Cyr & Frost, 1991) note that managers in China are already showing an increasing interest in using human resource3 techniques and motivational systems which emphasize productivity at the individual, group, and enterprise level. Therefore, Schuler (1989) concluded that the transition from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy has resulted in significant changes in the economic system, which is and will continue to have major implications for the practice of human resource management. According to Geringer & Frayne (1990), training and development is clearly a need in China, given the low efficiency and low productivity inb China’s enterprises, as well as the relatively poor educational background of Chinese employees, with mismatch of employee’s skill and job requirements. Lu and Chen (1990), noted that in China, only about 10% of the population have tertiary education, while in USA it is 54.1 % and in Norway, 86.9 %. Only 30% to 40% of newly recruited workers in the urban or township enterprises had vocational or technical training (Tan, 1992). It is estimated that by the year 2000, about 200 million members of the rural labor force will need new employment opportunities (Du, 1988). With this figures presented, it is clearly shown the large gap of the present educational and skill standards and the requirements of modern industry and technology. In addition, according to Pan and Li (1990), the more striking situation is the lack of suitably trained technical and professional personnel. Holton (1990) noted that a major problem found by foreign joint venture companies in China is the shortage of well- educated people. This pattern was confirmed in a recent study by Tan (1992) in which showed that the technical skills and qualities of employees in China are below the demands of modern industry and technology, and stressed the necessity and significance of training and development in enterprises. Training courses at the secondary or vocational technical level have been offered to employees along with on-the job training (Lu & Chen, 1990). Moreover, management training has been given an unprecedented emphasis (Wang, 1987: Wang, 1990). However, Warner (1993) notes that in China, “training remains narrowly defined, in contrast to the Western HRM notion of planning for long-term staff development” (p. 46). With market transition in China, a market economy has given enterprises more autonomy and decision-making power, some enterprises with “far-sighted” strategies have established scholarships or invested research and development funds in universities. This has not only helped the enterprises to develop their production but has also increased their ability to recruit the talented people they need (People’s Daily, 9 May 1993). Moreover, technology has also influence the human resource policies and practices. The recent shift toward integrated human resource information systems technology and self- service functionality for employers and managers alike is a direct response to the competitive challenges of today’s knowledge economy. For this reason, offering technology-based self-service is now the preferred method for enhancing the lines of communication between the company and its employees.In addition, there are clear tangible rewards from the service that include lower cost of operations, increased productivity and for those who are prepared to leverage this advantage, the opportunity to firmly position HR as an organizational leader and strategic business partner.                  SHRM HR Technology Survey Report (2005) reported that technology is now a fact of life–it has become an invasive part of everyday living. Technology can provide conveniences and allow for efficiencies both at home and in the workplace, particularly in relation to communication between people, as well as in relation to the secure storage of employee data. Unfortunately, the benefits of technological conveniences can quickly be lost and/or may not be realized at all if planning is inadequate and/or if unskilled staff does not understand how to capitalize its use. The top three obstacles that make it challenging to implement the HR technology system in organizations are budget/funding approval, resistance to change and an infrastructure that has not been properly prepared.             According to The Investment is Paying Off 2003 report, human resource departments have been quick to adapt on Web-based applications as a communication and transaction tool. The Internet has contributed to a new model for HR service delivery one. That is a beginning to make good on its promise of increased productivity and a change for the better in the routine activities of HR professionals. Of the companies surveyed, 60% report a reduction in HR administrative work as a result of employee self-service. Manager self-service, while still not as prevalent, is also achieving positive results, with 47% of respondents reporting less administrative work for managers and for HR overall. Over and above the reduced workload, respondents report significant improvements in both data accuracy and timeliness of self-service transactions. In addition to the workload reductions from Web-based self-service, organizations have been able to eliminate other HR service delivery “channels,” such as voice response systems and paper-based transactions, thus adding hard-dollar savings to the workload reduction (www.towersperrin.com). References Ashton, David, and Alan Felstead (1995) ‘Training and development’ in Human resource management: A critical text. J. Storey (ed.), Chapter 9. London: Routledge Bartel, A. (1994). ‘Productivity gains from the implementation of employee training programs’. Industrial Relations 33: 411-425. Brewster, C. (1995) ‘Towards a ‘European’ Model of Human Resource Management’, Journal of International Business Studies 26(1): 5–21. Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. (1994) Policy and Practice in European Human Resource Management. London, Routledge. Collison, J. (2005). SHRM HR technology survey report. Alexandria, VA: Society for Human Resource Management. Cyr, D. J. and Frost, P. J. (1991) “Human Resource Management Practice in China: A Future Perspective”, Human Resource Management, Summer, 30 (2): 199-215. DFEE (Department of Further Education and Employment) (1995) Lifetime learning: A consultative document. DFEE/Scottish Office/Welsh office. Du, R. (1988) “Rural Employment in China: The Choices”, International Labor Review, 127 (3): 371-80. Filella, J. and Hegewisch, A. (1994) ‘European experiments with pay and benefits policies’, in Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. (eds), pp. 89–106. Geringer, J. M. and Frayne. C. A. (1990) “Human Resource Management and International Joint venture Control: A Parent Company Perspective”, Management International Review, 30, Special Issue 103-20. Gustaffson, L. (1990) ‘Promoting flexibility through pay policies – experiences from the Swedish national administration’, Flexible Personnel Management in the Public Services. Paris, OECD. Hofstede, G. (1980) Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values, Beverly Hills, CA, Sage. Holden, L. and Livian, Y. (1992) ‘Does strategic training policy exit? some evidence from ten European countries’, Personnel Review, 21(1): 12–23. Holton, R. (1985) “Marketing and the Modernization of China’, California Management Review, 27 (4): 33-45. IMS/MSC/NEDO (1984) Competence and competition: Training and education in the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States and Japan. London: IMS/MSC/NEDO. Keep, Ewart (1989a) ‘A training scandal?’ Personnel management in Britain. K. Sisson (ed.), 177-202. Oxford: Blackwell Keep, Ewart, and Ken Mayhew (1996). Scoping Paper for the ‘What Makes Training Pay’ project. London: IPD. Knoke, D., and A. Kalleberg (1994). ‘Job training in U.S. organizations’. American Sociological Review 59: 537-546. Laurent, A. (1986) ‘The cross-cultural puzzle of international human resource management’, Human Resource Management, 25: 91–102. Lu, H. and Chen, J. (1990) “Strategic Issue in Human Resource Planning in the People’s Republic of China”, Working Paper for The Asian HRD Planning Network, International Labor Organization, Asian Employment Program, New Delhi. Muller, M. (1998) ‘Human Resource and Industrial Relations Practices of UK and US Multinationals in Germany’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 9(4): 732–49. Pan, F. and Li, X. (1990) “Development of Human Resources in the People’s Republic of China,” Working Paper for The Asian HRD Planning Network, International Labor Organization, Asian Employment Program. New Delhi. People’s Daily (Renming Kibao), references in text Pfeffer, Jeffrey (1994) ‘Competitive advantage through people’. California Management Review (Winter): 9-28. Pieper, R. (ed.) (1990) Human Resource Management: An International Comparison, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter Prais, S. J., Valerie Jarvis, and Karin Wagner (1991). ‘Productivity and vocational skills in services in Britain and Germany: hotels’ in International comparisons of vocational education and training for intermediate skills. P. Ryan (ed.). London: The Falmer Press Russell, James, James Terborg, and Mary Powers (1985). ‘Organizational performance and organizational level training and support’. Personnel Psychology 38: 849-863. Schuler, R. S. (1989) “Scanning the Environment: Planning for Human Resource Management and Organizational Change”, Human Resource Planning, 12 (4): 257-76. Shenkar, O. and Chow, 1. H. (1989) “From Political Praise to Stock Options: Reforming Compensation Systems in the People’s Republic of China”, Human Resource Management, 28 (1), Spring: 65-85. Sparrow, P., Schuler, R. S. and Jackson, S. E. (1994) ‘Convergence or divergence: human resource practices and policies for competitive advantage world-wide’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 5(2): 267–99. Steedman, Hilary, and Karin Wagner (1989) ‘Productivity, machinery and skills: clothing manufacture in Britain and West Germany’. National Institute Economic Review 128 (May): 40-57 Tan, S. (1992) “A Realistic Approach of Human Resource Development in China”, Laodong Jingji Yu Renshi Guanli (Labor Economic and Personnel Administration), 6, 17-23 May: 6-13. Towers Perrin. (2003). HR on the Web: The investment is paying off–HR service delivery survey report. Retrieved August 16, 2006, Available www.towersperrin.com/hrservices/us/default_us.htm Tregaskis, O. and Dany, F. (1996) ‘A comparison of HRD in France and the UK’, European Journal of Industrial Training, 20(1): 20–31. Warner, M. (1993) “Human Resource Management with Chinese Characteristics”, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 4 (1): 45-65. Wise, L R. (1993) ‘Wither solidarity: transitions in Swedish public sector pay policy’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 31(1): 73–95. Worswick, G.D.N. (ed.) (1985) Education and Economic Performance, London, Gower Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Influence of PEST Factor on HR Policies in the Spheres

Employee training and development is an attempt to improve current or future employee performance by increasing, through learning, an employ...

Human Resources

Using Skills Learned to Benefit Others and Society There are many ways wherein one can help in the improvement and the betterment of others as well as the society. One way of helping can be financially or maybe even through our skills and talents. By using our skills and talents, we can help other people. However, before being able to help, one must understand what the problems are in the society. One must be able to have a clear understanding of what it is that the society needs, what the people need. One must be sensitive enough to the issues that surround them in order to be able to help others.             Before being able to help, one must learn the basics about the problem. Educate yourself on the nature of the problem as well s the people that will help you on solving your problem. Identify who are the local players in the problem. One must assess the community’s needs and help develop a plan for the solution to the problem and come up with other alternatives as well.             It should be noted that you understand what you are getting into and then develop a plan of action and develop networks as well. Become the voice to the society’s problem and make a difference. Upon implementing your program to help, monitor and assess your progress.    Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Human Resources

Using Skills Learned to Benefit Others and Society There are many ways wherein one can help in the improvement and the betterment of oth...

Occupation: Human Resource Manager

Occupation: Human Resource Manager   K1 My strength – Psychology Psychology as pertaining to the study of human behavior and mental processes happens to be my favorite subject that had engulf much of my interest ever since it struck my senses.  With the above average grade I have accounted myself in the psychology and to the other psychology related subjects I had finished there is always a sense of accomplishment on my part being able to do my best to deserve the grade.  It is the subject where I set myself to focus on and to constantly challenge myself to do the best and be the best I can, not only to deserve high grades but for me to develop a deeper understanding on the subject matter in its broad context.  Little by little, I have loved the subject as I consider it to be very valuable and indispensable part of my life wherein its applications can contribute a lot in dealing with everyday activities.  Like for example, being able to understand people on how they deal with things and the means in which they would resort to solutions, whether or not, it is the best solution or just a temporary means to alleviate their problem.  Obviously, psychology as a very basic subject in the field of human resource would provide me with in-depth knowledge on how to be a good human resource manager in the future considering the fact that I would know the basic essentials in the realms of human resource management. The study of psychology can aid and equip me with the necessary understanding as to how the human resources behave in an organization and the underlying factors that should be put into consideration before implementing and planning for changes.  As humans, to be able to pinpoint the aspects that is immeasurable or not that quantifiable is where the field of psychology would work as its best.  Thus, with psychology as my knowledge strength in pursuing a career in the human resources, I am confident that I will be able to gauge myself well and be competent enough to handle the dealings of being a human resource manager.   K2 My weakness – Mathematics Ever since I was a child, mathematics has always been my waterloo and my Achilles’ heel so to speak.  From grade school up until college, I have a hard time figuring out what to do to be able to expound my mathematical knowledge.  Mathematics may not had required me much to learn since almost everything is based on formulas and equations, but nevertheless, it had consumed my time in analyzing without getting the desired result, although, there proves to be an improvement.  My grades in mathematics were fair and as compared with the other subjects, it is the subject where I usually get low grades and at the worst case I even failed a couple of times in that subject area.  Luckily, in human resource management, the application of mathematics is not that required and maybe one of the reasons why I did not chose to have a career in engineering because I do know that I am barely competent to the fields where it entails great mathematical knowledge.   S1 My strength – Active Listening             To be great in psychology and excel in the field of human resource management where it has been a strict prerequisite to develop a skill to be a good listener is critical.  Human resource managers not only requires to be great in planning but unknown to everybody, has the responsibility to not only provide means in which to maximize the use of human resources but also the most important role of being an excellent human resource manager is to foster holistic growth to the human resources in the workplace such that they can better reach their maximum potential which in the long run would benefit the whole organization.  Prior to the provisions that human resource manager must foster, the need to listen to the pulse of the workforce is apparent since it is from them the human resource manager must draw the necessary aspects that needs to be reinforced and improved in the facet of getting more from the workforce.  Being an active listener, it would enable me to design programs that would extremely benefit the workforce, thus, providing them with intrinsic motivational factors that would in turn, make them satisfied in their jobs.  The empathy I have for people would enable me also to improve on my active listening skills and to further be good at it.   S2 My weakness – Instructing             Given my active listening skill, I will have a hard time to express that kind of skill when I am weak in instructing.  My weakness in instructing is brought about by the fact that I learn things often by myself but with consultation of course to the people who know best.  In fact, I even regard myself to be more of an observant learner being able to learn things my way.  Other than that, my patience in instructing is considerable low which sometimes leads me let other people to the instructing for me.  But I know to be a good human resource manager, the need for improvement in the instructing weakness should gradually be minimized because as being a manager it would really require me to instruct other people and exhibit to them the importance of giving a clear and precise instruction that would be understandable enough for everyone to follow.  Perhaps, I can overcome this weakness by stressing my patience as much as possible to the highest point so that I can give instructions correctly for others to correctly follow as well.  Most especially, I can never assume that others are the same like me that they are an observant learner.   A1 My strength – Written Expression               The fact that my one of my weaknesses is the inability to convey expressions orally, the substitute means in which I can express myself more openly is through written expression.  Written expression serves to be an ally that helps me express the inner feeling and thoughts that I cannot orally expressed.  There was even a time, that I cannot say I am sorry to my mother verbally, but I instead wrote it for me to be able to express it.  Even in school, I tend to get high scores on the written exams than on oral exams.  Simply stated, I am quite dependent and more able to express in written my expression and ergo, written expression has been my strength.  Motivating the workforce I believe does not always necessitates that you have to orally instill motivation in them, somehow my prowess in the written expression could help me make more motivating guidance to the workforce through the power of the words I will be using in the written paper to be posted in the bulletin boards across the halls of the organization that I would soon belong.     A2 My weakness – Oral Expression   In contrary to my ability strength, oral expression has been my weakness.  Basically, my oral expression weakness stems from the way I am being brought up.  Despite that I am brought up to be independent; I suppose my family did not encourage me to be really confident and to overcome shyness in the face of other people. My family is in itself does not emphasize the importance of expressing things orally.  When someone is down, neither one family member expresses orally his or her concern although I know deep in their hearts how concern they are.  It just so happen that my family cannot express the feelings openly. The need to go about to overcome this weakness would be of utmost help in the career I will be choosing because to be a part of a human resource management you cannot rely always in written expressions.  There would be a time that a human resource manager would speak into a large crowd to fully express what it is to be expressed and the inevitable fact that words are more powerful once it is said verbally or orally. Attachment Occupation: Human Resource Manager Tasks <ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.5pt"> Administer compensation, benefits and performance management systems, and safety and recreation programs. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.5pt"> Identify staff vacancies and recruit, interview and select applicants. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.5pt"> Allocate human resources, ensuring appropriate matches between personnel. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.5pt"> Provide current and prospective employees with information about policies, job duties, working conditions, wages, opportunities for promotion and employee benefits. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.5pt"> Perform difficult staffing duties, including dealing with understaffing, refereeing disputes, firing employees, and administering disciplinary procedures. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.5pt"> Advise managers on organizational policy matters such as equal employment opportunity and sexual harassment, and recommend needed changes. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.5pt"> Analyze and modify compensation and benefits policies to establish competitive programs and ensure compliance with legal requirements. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.5pt"> Plan and conduct new employee orientation to foster positive attitude toward organizational objectives. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.5pt"> Serve as a link between management and employees by handling questions, interpreting and administering contracts and helping resolve work-related problems. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.5pt"> Plan, direct, supervise, and coordinate work activities of subordinates and staff relating to employment, compensation, labor relations, and employee relations. </li> </ul>   KNOWLEDGE Psychology — The knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders. Mathematics — The knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.   SKILLS Active Listening — Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. Instructing — Teaching others how to do something.   ABILITIES Written Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand. Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Occupation: Human Resource Manager

Occupation: Human Resource Manager K1 My strength – Psychology Psychology as pertaining to the study of human behavior and ...

Leadership of the managers and its impact on job performance

Leadership of the managers and its impact on job performance   The problem can be placed within human resource management perspective as there maybe issues catering to research literature for instance, there maybe lack of support into leadership impact towards job performance and the problem that leadership is acted upon as a positive factor by the managers and never been a negative factor as for example, the presence of too much leadership authority can affect job performance not just in the lower levels but also in the higher ones, affecting how HR managers perform well and effectively into the work setting and how they possess proper quorum towards other staff in the organization they belong. Aims/Objectives -       There is ample need to recognize leadership and job performance as put more into the human resource perspective -       Determining leadership of human resource managers -       Finding out leadership impact of human resource managers job performance -       Relating to several theories and applications (leadership; job performance) Research Questions -       What is leadership? What comprise of leadership used by managers? Discuss -       What is meant by job performance? Discuss -       How is job performance manifested by human resource managers? How it is known in terms of leadership aspects and its underlying impact? -       What are some of leadership impacts towards job performance? Is there a positive impact? A negative impact? -       Are there any leadership styles involved? If so, what style of leadership is effective for HRM managers in order to achieve good job performance? -       What are several ways of measuring leadership? How it is measured for the purpose of recognizing job performance impact? Hypothesis -       There is direct relationship of leadership towards job performance of HR managers -        There is no direct relationship of leadership towards job performance of HR managers -       There is positive impact of job performance due to the leadership of human resource managers -       There is negative impact of job performance due to the leadership of human resource managers Sample Literature HR managers know that people make the critical difference between success and failure, effectiveness with which organisations manage, develop, motivate, involve and engage the willing contribution of the people who work in them is a key determinant of how well they perform based on leadership styles they comply in their work, as there maybe little research demonstrating causal link between leadership and job performance of managers and several literature describes particular leadership aspects, practices and styles which are claimed to lead to a much motivated as well as productive HR managers and have the elements of leadership effectiveness and measuring contribution these HR managers make to incur positive job performance (1997; 1997). Thus, some of research literature has been dominated by questions as to whether HRM practices make ideal difference to HR managers relying their job performance. There is now a considerable body of work proposing that high quality leadership management can provide firms with a source of competitive advantage that it is difficult for competitors to imitate. It is the management of human capital, rather than physical capital that is seen as the most important determinant of company performance, some studies have demonstrated relationship between leadership impact, HRM as well as performance ( 1995; 1995). SMEs in Malaysia can make full use of a skilled and motivated workforce by promoting job designs which provide enriched jobs for employees whereby employees have responsibility for such activities as problem solving, scheduling and quality assurance.     Research Methodology The research method will cater to comparative quantitative research method linking to survey questionnaires that are to be based on leadership of several HR managers upon recognizing as well as measuring leadership impact on their job performance, making in comparative study pertaining to the styles of leadership used by HR managers and how it impacts into job performance in a positive and negative manner. The questionnaires will be send to HR managers of certain SMEs in Malaysia as the methodology will have to be classified as either quantitative or qualitative as it can be that leadership impact towards job performance can be known by means of using primary as well as secondary data, as there implies to qualitative method which might be design to help the researcher understand leadership aspects, styles and other domains that can serve as a factor for noting in job performance of HR managers. The HR managers as participants of the study will comprise of about 15-20 managers coming from 4 to 5 SMEs operating in Malaysia, they can be the HR head, assistant, or any staff having in authority in the field of human resource, they can be the HR team that adheres to the managerial level of the area, the method can be utilizing in the case study approach, gathering in reliable, acceptable and reviewed journals and articles that integrates to leadership and job performance as this can be along with multiple source of qualitative and quantitative information in particular. The supporting information will be collected from leadership and job performance proponents and research in lieu to journals, articles, books that can assume case approach in an extensive approach, and have acceptable resource that relates to research questions to be found in the literature organization. For the method assessment, there needs to determine and recognize case analysis method, as there enables to transcribe certain leadership styles to have impeding impact on HR managers’ job performance and implying to qualitative and quantitative methods upon asking the SMEs HR managers to rank perceptions and or views in the survey questionnaire scaling ( 1999), being geared towards reliability and validity, the survey statements can range from the following: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree and 5 = strongly agree.     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Leadership of the managers and its impact on job performance

Leadership of the managers and its impact on job performance The problem can be placed within human resource management perspective as ...

The individual values of managers and HR decision-making

Introduction             The paper tackles the impact of individual values and organizational factors in the decision-making process regarding Human Resource issues in organizations. The paper focuses on the individual values of managers and HR decision-making. Decision making according to Ranyard et al (1997) is fundamental to modern life in its individual collective and corporate aspects. Decision making according to Galotti (2002) refers to the mental activities that take place in choosing among alternatives.  Managers face numerous challenges in making decisions. One of these is balancing their individual values and organizational goals in making decisions for the organization and its employees. Decision making according to Sims (1994) is one of the most important of all individual and group efforts within an organization.   Rational Decision-Making             A rational decision is one that occurs in ordered steps and maximizes a value, whether it is honesty, efficiency, reliability, controllability, marketability, or any of many other values. Adherence to any value involves promoting one alternative over another. In general, the rational decision-making process is made up of six steps. In this process, each step provides an opportunity for the decision maker to change which value he or she wants to adhere to. The steps are: 1. Define the problem – In this step, the decision-maker isolates the key factors in question and diagnoses the situation in order to define the basic problem and to identify the limits of the situation. This step allows the decision-maker to focus on the problem that he or she wants to solve. 2. Identify the goal to be achieved – In this step, the decision maker identifies the goal that he or she wants to achieve. This is important, as the goal will guide the actions of the decision-maker.  3. List all possible solutions to the problem – All alternatives that will address the problem and achieve the goal are placed under consideration. 4. Evaluate each alternative to determine which one best meets the requirements of the situation – This step requires a thorough analysis of each alternative. The analysis involves measuring the benefits, costs, and risks of each as well as identifying the likely intended and unintended consequences of each. This step provides information about the utility of each alternative in terms of the efficiency with which it maximizes desired values and still achieves the goal. 5. Identify the one course of action that is most likely to produce the desired consequences within the constraints of the situation – In this step, the decision maker selects the alternative that maximizes the most important values and holds the most promise of achieving the goal, while solving the problem as effectively as possible. 6. Make a commitment to the choice and implement it – This step requires converting the decision into action (Guy 1990 pp. 28-30).   The Decision-Maker             The decision maker is seen as an individual working either alone or as a member of a group. In all decision-making activities, the decision maker has to make up his or her mind, and then differences of opinion are resolved in some manner that depends upon the dynamic of the group. Groups are the contexts within which individual members’ decisions become consolidated to form a group product (Beach 1990; Beach and Mitchell 1990; Davis 1992).   Values and Decision-Making             Values are defined by Rokeah (1973) as enduring beliefs that are focused on a specific mode of conduct or desirable end state of existence. Values are acquired and hierarchically organized to become somehow part of a relatively enduring system. Values are core beliefs about what is intrinsically desirable. They underlie the choices made in work decisions just as they underlie the choices made in ones private life (Guy 1990). According to Schwartz (1994) values are constructed through a combination of social and psychological conflicts, experienced by the individual expressing these values. Over time, these conflicts and harmonies among value priorities result in a structure or value system – such structures providing an individual with an ordered framework for decision-making. It follows that values must influence decision-making (McGuire et al 2006).             According to Beach (1996) each decision maker possesses values that define how things should be and how people ought to behave. These values together with individual morals and ethics and so on are collectively known as principles, self-evident truths about what he or she (or the group) stands for, about the goals that are therefore worthy of pursuit, and about what are and what are not acceptable ways of pursuing those goals.             Values are believed to have a significant impact on managerial decision-making on HR issues at deeper more personal levels (McGuire et al 2006). In terms of decision-making, there is an increasing consensus that a good decision maker is not just someone who can rationally assess choices, or make the most logical decision given for that moment, but someone who can arrive at a decision through balancing competing values and goals (Hartmann and Patrickson 1998; Cohen 1993). Contemporary perspectives on decision-making increasingly acknowledge a socially constructed reality that emphasizes the contextual nature of decision-making and the important role played by values in driving decision-making process (Tacconi 1996).   Organizational Factors and Decision-Making             Wilcocks (1998) argues that managerial decision-making is not the result of impersonal, deterministic and objective forces, but rather is socially constructed and created by human agency. An organization’s culture affect how decision-making happens within that organization. An organization’s culture consists of the organizationally relevant beliefs and values that are mutually understood and subscribed to by its members (Schneider 1990; Trice and Beyer 1993). As such the culture prescribes what is true, necessary, and desirable and, therefore, the goals one ought to pursue and how one ought to go about pursuing them (Campbell and Nash 1992). The organization’s culture is the beliefs and values that are shared, to one degree or other, by the members of the organization. Like the   Values and Human Resource Management             The HRM field has increasingly become values driven with employee-centered HRM practices increasing advocated. In recent years, there have been changes in how employees are managed in the organizations. These is due to the changing business environment and the increasing pressure on organizations by the government and other regulating bodies to develop more employee-centered policies and practices. These changes reverberated in the area of Human Resource Management. Indeed, the HR department has undergone changes and the HR Manager’s roles and responsibilities have changed over the years. There is also a major change in Human Resource Development (HRD) as more and more organizations are taking the Humanistic value-based approach to HRD (McGuire et al 2005). Ulrich (1997) argues that the HR Manager of today needs to fulfill new roles. Ulrich’s (1997) model of HR roles seeks to focus HR delivery on a framework that promotes specialist knowledge and positions it to deliver on the challenges presented to HR. These challenges are: <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="circle"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Strategy</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Financial Performance</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Change 	Management</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Business Performance Improvement</li> </ul> In Ulrich’s model, each role combines to focus on delivering improvement with the function and within the business. The new roles of the HR manager according to Ulrich (1997) are: 1. Strategic Partner – by having a strategic partner who clearly focuses ob strategic issues, HR is able to tackle them. As strategic partners, HR managers understand the critical factors affecting organizational competitiveness and communicate benefits that change strategies and interventions provide to the firm. Strategic partners thoroughly understand business fundamentals, core processes, operations and procedures (Gilley and Maycunich 2000). 2. Administrative Expert – through an administrative expert, the HR function is able to demonstrate it is supporting financial goals of the company by focusing on having efficient and high quality service. 3. Employee Champion – through the employee champion role, the HR function is able to focus on the employee relationship and improving employee capability. Human resource managers, according to Ulrich (1997), are in a unique position to serve as employee champions. As such, they reveal the correct balance between work demands and resources, identifying legitimate demands on employees and helping these workers focus by setting priorities. Employee champions also distinguish creative ways of leveraging resources so that employees do not feel overwhelmed by what is expected of them. 4. Change Agent – the change agent role allows the function to meet the challenges of the changing business environment and positioning the business to execute strategy. In the role of change agent, HR managers exercise the greatest organizational impact and influence. When HR managers act as change agents, they establish high credibility within the organization and great influence with key decision makers, line managers, and employees (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).   Skills Competencies and Knowledge of an Effective HR Manager 1. Strategic Partner             HR managers and professionals add value to the organization by understanding business operations. HR managers need to gain operational experience in functional areas such as marketing, finance, operations, and sales. HR managers must understand business conditions to generate pertinent, practical solutions for the stakeholders. The HR manager needs to understand stakeholder needs and expectations. The HR manager needs to be aware of the financial and business issues the organization faces. Moreover, the HR manager needs to long-term solutions to difficult problems (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).   2. Employee Champion             To be effective employee champions, HR managers develop client relationship skills such as listening, reflecting, questioning, and summarizing to build mutual acceptance and positive regard with the stakeholders (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).   3. Administrative Expert/ Performance Consultant Effective performance consultants remain partial, regardless of their values and biases, and in spite of an organization’s culture, traditions, and vested interests. Human resource manager know where to go for information, insight, recommendations, or coaching in order to avoid pitfalls common in organizational life. They must be operationally smart, possessing organizational awareness that helps them better understand the political structure, decision-making, or procedures. Additional development competencies and skills are necessary for the performance consulting role. These abilities include interpersonal, conceptual, technical, integrative, analytical, political awareness, and conflict resolution skills. (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).   4. Change Agent             The role of change agent requires knowledge of HR practices, partnering and negotiating skills, business acumen, client relationships, and organizational development (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).               Indeed the roles of the HR Manager in the organization have changed. The HR Manager of today is managing with the aim of balancing the organization’s goals and objectives with the welfare and development of the employees. Because of these changes, the management style of organizations has shifted from bureaucratic to more participative, employee-centered approaches. Ranney and Carlson (1992) argue that an organization’s HR policies, practices and rules are good indicators of its approach to dealing with people and human behavior. An organization’s managerially directed actions affect employee perceptions leading to a strengthening or readjustment of individual values.   Employee Empowerment and Employee Decision Making             As a result of the shift in HR practices and procedures and the changes in the roles and responsibilities of the HR Manager, the employees are granted with more authority in making decisions especially in issues that relate to their jobs. Empowerment generally connotes the granting of authority or ability. Employee empowerment, therefore, means the transferring of some managerial authority, prerogative, or ability to employees (Peter et al 2002). There are different dimensions of empowerment: 1. Power – On the simplest level, employee empowerment is simply granting power to those doing the work (Block 1987). This dimension envisions a mechanistic model of a bureaucratic organization, with the top levels granting limited power and holding individuals closely accountable (Ettorre 1997). 2. Decision-Making – The most common dimension of empowerment is decision-making. Empowerment is the granting of authority to make decisions. Through empowerment, employees feel that they are involved in making decisions Herrenkohl et al 1999). 3. Autonomy – Employee’s autonomy in doing their jobs is one of empowerment’s dimensions. Autonomy is commonly described as a sense of self-determination. Empowerment means that workers are not restricted in what they do but have boundaries that are appropriate (Dew 1997). 4. Responsibility – Empowerment requires employee accountability, but is a general responsibility, rather than supervisory oversight of job tasks. This dimension has been described as allowing employees to track their own performances and having equal responsibilities for organizational results or success.             Indeed, employee empowerment has changed the decision-making process in organizations as employees are given more opportunities to take part in the said process.   Conclusion             The research that links values and organizational factors with HR managerial decision-making is still limited. Based on the resources that I have gathered so far, values and organizational factors, particularly culture have influence on managerial decision-making. However, I have found little literature on the impact of values and organizational factors on managerial decision-making regarding human resources issues. The information that I gathered, however, point to the changes in the human resources management arena, implying that the changes in employee management has led to HR policies and practices that encourage individual values.       References   Beach L R 1990, Image Theory: Decision Making in Personal and Organizational Contexts, Wiley, Chichester, UK.   Beach, L R (ed.) 1996, Decision Making in the Workplace: A Unified Perspective, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah NJ.   Beach L R and Mitchell, T R 1990, Image Theory: A Behavioral Theory of Decisions in Organizations, in B M Staw and L L Cummings (eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior (pp, 1-41), JAI Press, Greenwich.   Block, P 1987, The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.   Campbell, A and Nash, L L 1992, A Sense of Mission: Defining Direction for the Large Corporation, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.   Cohen, M S 1993, ‘The Naturalistic Basis of Decision Biases’, in G S Orasanu, et al (eds.), Decision Making in Action: Models and Methods (pp. 51-102), Ablex, Publishing Corporation, Norwood, NJ.   Davis, J G 1992, ‘Some Compelling Intuitions about Group Consensus Decisions, Theoretical and Empirical Research and Interpersonal Aggregation Phenomena: Selected Examples, 1950-1990’, Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 52, pp. 3-38.   Dew, J R 1997, Empowerment and Democracy in the Workplace: Applying Adult Education Theory and Practice for Cultivating Empowerment, Quorum Books, Westport.   Ettorre, B 1997, ‘The Empowerment Gap: Hype vs. Reality’, HR Focus, vol. 74, pp. 1+.   Galotti, K M 2002, Making Decisions That Matter: How People Face Important Life Choices, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah NJ.   Gilley J W and Maycunich, A 2000, Beyond the Learning Organization: Creating a Culture of Continuous Growth and Development through State-of-the-Art Human Resource Practices, Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, MA.   Guy, M E 1990, Ethical Decision Making in Everyday Work Situations, Quorum Books, Westport CT.   Hartman, L C and Patrickson, M 1998, ‘Individual Decision-Making: Implications for Decision Training in TQM, International Journal of Quality and Relationship Management, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 613-633.   Herrenkohl, V 1999, Qualitative Research Methods: An Overview, in G J Whicker and M L Whicker(eds.),  Handbook of Research Methods in Public Administration, Marcel Dekker, New York.   McGuire, D 2006, ‘The Impact of Individual Values on Human Resource Decision-Making by Line Managers’, International Journal of Manpower, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 251-273.   McGuire, D, Cross, C and O’Donnel, D 2005, ‘Why Humanistic Approaches in HRD Won’t Work’.   Peter, J et al  2002, ‘Dimensions and Patterns in Employee Empowerment: Assessing What Matters to Street-Level Bureaucrats’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 377+.   Ranyard, R et al (eds.) 1997, Decision Making: Cognitive Models and Explanations, Routledge, London.   Ranney. G B and Carlson, B 1992, ‘Reviewing Organizational Policies and Rules’, Quality Progress, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 50-56.   Rokeah. M 1973, Nature of Human Values, Free Press, New York.   Schneider B (ed.) 1990, Organizational Culture and Climate, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.   Schwartz, S H 1994, ‘ Beyond Individualism/Collectivism: New Cultural Dimensions of Values’, in U Kim et al (eds.), Individualism and Collectivism: Theory, Method and Applications, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.   Sims, R R 1994, Ethics and Organizational Decision Making: A Call for Renewal, Quorum Books, Westport CT.   Taconi, L 1996, ‘Dissent from Choice Theory: Implications for Environmental Decision Making’ International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 331-345.   Trice, H M and Beyer, J M 1993, The Cultures of Work Organizations, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.   Ulrich, D 1997, Human Resource Champions, The Next Agenda for Adding Value and Delivery Results, Harvard Business School Press.   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

The individual values of managers and HR decision-making

Introduction The paper tackles the impact of individual values and organizational factors in the decision-making process reg...