Human Resource Management - Essay Example

? Human Resource Management - HOME CARE HOUSING Introduction The development of effective HR policies has been a critical issue for organizations in different industries. In fact, a well-planned HR policy can significantly help towards the standardization and the development of organizational performance, either in the short or the long term. However, the value of HR, as an organizational sector, is often underestimated. This problem has been made clear in the case of Home Care Housing. The organization has managed to achieve a rapid growth; however, due to the lack of an integrate HR plan, the firm’s managers have failed to respond to the needs of workers in regard especially to the level of payment and the hours of work. Moreover, the low communication within the organization has set obstacles in the identification of appropriate solutions for improving employee satisfaction and employee performance. Current paper highlights the key HR issues in Home Care Housing. Also, the potential improvement of the firm’s recruitment process is analyzed using the findings of relevant literature. The identification of appropriate applicants would be the first step for facing the firm’s HR problems. Appropriately qualified staff would result to the decrease of conflicts and the increase of cooperation across the organization, as necessary for the limitation of failures in the organization’s daily activities. 2. HR issues in Home Care Housing – presentation and evaluation Since its establishment, about 12 years ago, Home Care Housing has managed to achieve a significant level of growth. The success of the organization is reflected in the radical expansion of its activities; when entering the market, the organization managed just two housing developments. Today, Home Care Housing manages 20 units and employs about 600 people. The development of the organization has been mostly related to its support from volunteers and the community. However, the current status of its HR framework can be characterized as rather disappointing. A series of problems appear daily across the organization, a fact indicating the emergent need for the development of an effective HR plan. At a first level, it is made clear that the organization’s leaders were not appropriately prepared for managing the rapid expansion of the organization’s activities. This fact is reflected in the lack of an integrated HR plan. As a result, the terms and conditions of employment are not consistent. More specifically, the compensation of each employee is not standard. Rather variations can be identified in salaries, both in terms of the amount paid as also of the date of the payment. In most units of the organization significant delays are reported in the payment of salary; only workers in the maintenance sector of the organization are paid on time. Also, the hours of work of employees are not based on certain rules; instead, workers are likely to work from 37 to 42 hours per week. A same problem exists in regard to the number of days available as holidays. The period of holidays for workers in the firm’s units varies from 20 to 27 days, with no clear criteria or rules on which the days granted to each worker for holidays are estimated. A significant problem seems also to exist in regard to the level of rewarding; the problem is clearer in the case of managers who are fairly rewarded, meaning that there is no balance between the performance of managers and their rewards. The lack of an effective plan for arranging the payment, the holidays and the hours of work of employees has led to severe problems across the organization; the problem seems to be severe especially for the employees working in the firm’s Head Office. These employees face difficulties in covering the expenses of their travel for working; they also face difficulties in responding to the schedule of work which is not standardized. Those employees who have transferred from the organization’s units to its Head Office have reported that the working arrangements in the Head Office are different from those in the units; the lack of an integrated HR plan leads to the limitation of employee performance, a problem that has resulted to the decrease of the quality of services provided to the customers. At the next level, the communication and cooperation across the organization cannot be considered as satisfactory. However, the above problem is rather recent. As explained in the case study, workers who entered the organization recently, as a result of the expansion of the firm’s activities in London Boroughs area. Workers in the above area are highly unionized; moreover, since their entrance in the organization they have being tried to persuade other workers of the firm to join them in the union, a target that has been achieved. This resulted to the increase of conflicts between workers and managers and the severe failures in the delivery of services to the public. On the other hand, it seems that the failures in communication across the organization are not a recent phenomenon; in fact, the organization’s older units have not established effective communication schemes, a problem which is limited in the organization’s new units, where communication and cooperation are highly supported by employees at all levels. One of the organizational processes that it is negatively affected by the lack of an effective HR management is the recruitment or new employees. As noted in the case study, the firm’s HR managers face difficulties in identifying highly qualified applicants. In fact, most of the applicants are not appropriately skilled or educated. For most positions across the organization a significant period of time is required so that appropriately qualified applicants are identified. Moreover, no scheme exists for monitoring the performance of employees in various organizational departments. In fact, neither the organization’s Head Office nor its units have established such schemes; under – performance or trouble –making are difficult to be identified and evaluated. As a result, the development of offensive or illegal behaviour within the workplace have been reported to the organization’s managers with delay, increasing the difficulties in handling the particular issue. The improvement of the firm’s HR strategy would help towards the increase of employee motivation and performance and the limitation of illegal activities within the organization. The update of the firm’s recruitment strategy so that appropriately qualified applicants are chosen would result to the limitation of problems in regard to employees’ behaviour and performance, a fact that would also enforce the organization’s performance. 3. Poor quality of applicants in Home Care Housing 3.1. Overview of the problem As already noted above, the firm faces significant problems in regard to its recruitment process. More specifically, the applicants who respond to the firm’s job advertisements are likely to be under-qualified. Also, the number of the applicants responding to the organization’s job advertisements seems as decreased, compared to the past. As a result, it takes a long time for the firm’s HR managers to identify the candidates who can respond to the needs of the organization. At the next level, advertising costs of the recruitment process are significantly increased while gaps in regards to specific organizational activities are not covered on time. No specific policy seems to exist for developing the firm’s recruitment process; since no reference to such policy is made it is assumed that the organization’s HR managers use the most common form of recruitment: advertisements are published – through the media and the press – and interviews are developed with candidates in order to evaluate their ability to respond to the demands of the role involved. 3.2 Options available for addressing the problem The problems in regard to the firm’s recruitment process, as analyzed above, could be controlled if appropriate strategies would be employed. Particularly emphasis should be given so that quality applicants are attracted. It should be noted that the term ‘quality applicants’ is used in order to describe ‘those individuals who possess the requisite characteristics desired by the recruiting organization’ (Gatewood, Feilid and Barrick 2010, p.304). The options available to the organization could be identified through the literature published in the specific subject. In accordance with Neider and Schriesheim (2003) a firm would have more chances to identify appropriately qualified applicants if it could increase the number of applicants attracted in the first instance, i.e. when the advertisement in regard to a vacant job position is first published. On the other hand, Sims (2002) note that the success of an organization’s recruitment process can be secured if data related with past recruitment efforts are gathered. In this way,’ the time and budget required for the completion of the recruitment process, meaning a specific job position, could be predicted with accuracy’ (Sims 2002, p.135). Also, ‘the compatibility between the values and needs of each applicant and those of the organization’ (Joshi and Martocchio 2011, p.292) has been found to be a factor influencing the decision of an individual to apply for a particular job. At this point, reference should be made to the following fact: the level of investment of each organization on the training and development of its employees highly influences the willingness of candidates to participate in the recruitment process of the particular organization (Daft and Marcic 2010). In accordance with Jackson, Schuler and Werner (2011) the characteristics of an organization in terms of hours of work, level of compensation and the benefits provided to the employees can highly influence the success of the organization’s recruitment process. From another point of view, Bohlander and Snell (2007) emphasize on the important role of HR managers in the success of the recruitment process. The above researchers note that HR managers are likely to employ a series of methods and tools for securing the success of the particular process. Reference is made, for example, to ‘the calculation of yield ratios (e.g. percentage of applicants who, normally, pass each level of the recruitment process), the calculation of the costs of recruitment and the conduction of realistic job previews’ (Bohlander and Snell 2007, p.190). In any case, a well designed recruitment plan is a necessary element of a successful recruitment process; failures in developing the recruitment process would cause further delays in the hiring of appropriately qualified applicants for addressing emergent organizational needs (Mathis and Jackson 2010). 3.3 Recommendations for improving the situation In the context of the issues discussed above and taking into consideration the conditions in the internal and the external organizational environment, the following suggestions could be made to Home Care Housing in order for the organization to improve its recruitment process, especially in regard to the attraction of appropriately qualified applicants: a) at the first level, the phases of the recruitment process should be reviewed; the existing levels of the above process would be increased. As explained earlier, the current recruitment process of the organization seems to incorporate certain standard elements, incorporating the two, main phases, of such processes, such as the advertisement of the job position and the development of interviews with applicants. Another phase, the development of an evaluation test, intervening between the first and the second phase, should be added in the firm’s current recruitment process, an initiative that would help to reduce the costs of the whole process, b) also, the elements of the advertisement related to each position should be altered; apart from focusing only on the formal requirements of the job involved, the advertisement should also mention the benefits of the position, in terms of compensation but also of personal development, the training available and any additional support provided to the applicant chosen, as for instance the provision of car for traveling for work, the provision of health insurance and so on, c) the increase of effectiveness of the firm’s recruitment process would also require the use of innovative methods and techniques, such as the use of networking and social media so that the existence of a job vacancy is made known to more people – a fact that would lead to the increase of the people applied for the specific job, i.e. the expansion of the pool of applicants among which the firm’s HR managers can choose the one who most responds to the needs of the organization, d) In accordance with the issues developed in the case study, the organization has been negatively affected by the allegations related to the services provided to customers; the improvement of the organization’s image in the market is quite necessary so that highly qualified applicants are attracted to work. The organization could improve its image by developing a series of initiatives for compensating those that suffered damage from the activities of the organization’s employees. Furthermore, the staff involved in these activities would be replaced, a fact that would show to the customers the level at which organization is committed to its values. 4. Conclusion The ability of organizations to secure their position towards their rivals is depended on a series of factors. The level at which organizations manages to face the challenges of the market indicates their potentials for achieving a significant growth. Still, under certain terms, the rapid development of organizational activities cannot ensure the long-term growth of organizations. This fact is made clear in the case of Home Care Housing. The organization managed to expand its operations at a significant level within a rather short period. However, the increase of organizational activities revealed the lack of an effective strategic plan. The problem has been clear in the firm’s HR management sector. The attraction of quality applicants is considered as a prerequisite for the restructuring of the organization’s operations. With the assistant of appropriately qualified applicants the firm’s managers would be able to face all challenges in regard to the firm’s daily operations, as analytically presented in the first section of the paper. The use of the suggested techniques could help the firm’s HR managers to increase the number and the quality of applicants responding to the firm’s recruitment process. References Bohlander, G., and Snell, S. 2007. Managing human resources. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Daft, R., and Marcic, D. 2010. Understanding Management. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Gatewood, R., Feilid, H. and Barrick, M. 2010. Human Resource Selection. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Jackson, S., Schuler, R., and Werner S. 2011. Managing Human Resources. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Joshi, A., and Martocchio, J. 2011. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management. Emerald Group Publishing. Mathis, R., and Jackson, J. 2010. Human Resource Management. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Neider, L., and Schriesheim, C. 2003. New directions in human resource management. IAP Sims, R. 2002. Organizational success through effective human resources management. Greenwood Publishing Group. Read More