Managing Human Resource in Large Organisations - Essay Example

?Managing Human Resource in Large Organisations Part HR Implications of Complex Organizations and Ways of Staff Appreciation Human resource management is an important part of any organisation that ensures proper human resource utilisation while addressing the different issues affecting human resource. Managing human resource for large organisation is an overwhelming and very complex endeavour due to the number of factors and variables involved. Boeing and Airbus are some of the largest manufacturing organizations with employee base ranging up to 18, 000 employees. Managing such large organizations is a complex endeavor. Due to the diversity of the organisation, many employees come from different cultural and ethnic background and therefore have different personal values, which must be respected. Construction industries such as Boeing and airbus involve assembly of millions of parts. This calls for a wide variety of expertise. Some may be low as workshop attendants, cleaners, and drivers while others may be highly qualified personnel such as engineers, analysts, and quality inspectors. Each class have different needs, values, hierarchy of needs and issues to be addressed. This makes handling such a complex work base a difficult effort. Heavy construction industries require a very diverse pool of skills. This implies that the workforce will consist of old and experienced experts who have been in such industries for years. Such workers are of high value to any organisation. On the other hand, young, enthusiastic, and highly skilled workers are also required to inject new ideas, and introduce recent advancements in technology into the production process. Indeed, most large manufacturing industries invest heavily in developing young workforce. Most of the young generation are often employed in research facilities of such organizations. The needs, gratifications, and issues affecting these diverse groups are different and handling them increases the complexity of the human resource management problem. Since large organizations operate from different countries, the human resource management has to handle people of different nationalities where different rules, laws, regulations apply. The situation is even made more complex when the workforce is exchanged from one country to another. Managing and handling issues from an international perspective demands a very wide dimensional approach. Teamwork in manufacturing organizations such as Boeing and Airbus is of utmost importance. At times, the companies have to organise up to 200 work teams, which must work in harmony towards achieving the desired production goals. Organising such teams from a pool of varied professionals, different age, cultural and religious background presents a complex puzzle for human resource management. The gravity of the issue is increased by the sensitivity of the manufacturing process, which demands a synchronised approach to work (Lam, 2009). Compensation of different workers presents one of the most complex problems for large manufacturing organizations. Different expertise demand different pay grades. However, similar expertise from different nationality may require different compensation in terms of remunerations and other work benefits. Minimising compensation expenses whilst addressing different hierarchical needs of every single employee is truly a complex task for human resource management. Despite the complexities, human resource has different methods of approach to ensure that all the staff members feel as part of the design and production process. First, human resource must understand the different patterns of personal values and gratification. Different employees must be treated differently depending on personal motivation factors. For instance, some workers may value achievement, affiliation, power, and responsibility while others may prefer promotion and growth. There are two primary types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic. Most of the employees will fall in either category and it is the role of human resource to define the pattern among the employees and devise motivation mechanisms appropriately. Additionally, most of the workforce may be following the Maslow’s hierarchy theory. Older and long serving employees may demand higher levels of gratification such as power and recognition as compared to new and young employees who may prefer higher level of compensation. Understanding and respect of different cultural, religious, ethnic, and personal values acts as a great motivation to employees. Although it is challenging, understanding and appreciating each employee according to personal preference is an effective motivation tool. Developing and maintaining an organisational culture of appreciating every exemplary performance is essential for making employees feel part of the organisation. This should be maintained at all times. Part 2; Rationality of Boeing’s Promises to Trade Union Members Large multinational organizations have many responsibilities especially in handling employee related issues. This is because employees as well as the community have high expectations from the organizations. Boeing has been one of the most profitable organizations in the world for some time and the trade union feel that its members have contributed a lot to its success. Due to Boeing’s global status, the union members have high levels of gratification and expectations from the organisation. Therefore, demanding increased job security and future consideration for their children does not come by surprise. Although Boeing has achieved financial and managerial success for a long time, it should not overcommit itself to such future considerations. It should try other means of meeting needs and gratification of the employees before committing itself to such requests. The increased rate of change in technology and societal development poses a serious threat to future business-management operations, production, and human resource management. The future cannot be predicted with utmost certainty and therefore such a commitment may not be reasonable. However, based on the current overall status of the organisation, the endeavour may be practical. It is important for Boeing to realise that its employee base is quite large and therefore the off springs of the trade union may amount to an unmanageable number in the near future. Additionally, the special consideration of trade union family members will only increase the complexity of managing the human resource since this will add other factors to the already complex puzzle. Failure to meet such commitments may results to large-scale lawsuits and this may compromise the success already recorded by Boeing. Therefore, the most reasonable action is to try other means of addressing the issue without having to make a promise in time of uncertainties. This will protect the organisation against the unforeseen. Additionally, the organisation will keep off the managerial difficulties arising from handling diverse workforce with special requirements. Reference Lam, H. (2009). Essentials of Strategic Human Resource Management & Organizational Behaviour. Toronto, ON: Nelson Education Ltd. Read More