Human Resource Management in Innovation - Term Paper Example

? Human Resource Management in Innovation Table of Contents Introduction 3 Recommendations for new initiatives and approaches 3 Implementation 5 Impact of Recommendations on overall business 6 Timeline for implementation 9 11 Reference 12 Bibliography 12 Introduction Advantage Recruitment Limited is a recruitment firm providing HR solutions and placement support to the employment marked in New Zealand. Beginning with a small presence the company has grown rapidly for 20 years to a leading recruitment giant in the country. With the workforce doubling itself in no time, the company has been successful in establishing itself in different places, such as Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington. However, recently the company has been facing with some major HR problems like high attrition rates arising out of the changes taking place in the recruitment business market in New Zealand. Moreover, employees leaving the organization have brought to the fore few HR issues which need to be looked into, like existing wages, lack of opportunities for growth within the company, improper job roles and responsibilities, obsolete image unsuitable for attracting talents from the industry, poor performance review system and finally outdated recruitment process lacking the use of information and technology. The project seeks to develop a briefing paper presenting 5 to 6 high level HR recommendations in front of the management, which could be introduced in the organization with the aim of controlling attritions and helping the company move forward. Specific arguments have been put forward as to how each strategy would benefit the business and how they could be implemented. Lastly a timeline has been presented for implementation of the strategy. Recommendations for new initiatives and approaches Few recommendations in favor of Advantage Recruitment Limited are provided below. Firstly, it is recommended to create a work environment and culture that encourages employees to think of having a long term career with the organization. Employees primarily quit organizations because of better job prospects in other organizations. Creating career development program could be one way of handling the crisis (Patton & McMahon, 2001, p.3). Redesigning compensation packages could be one way of retaining valuable talents. This is because employees leaving the organization have complained of low wages being a factor responsible for moving into other organizations. Working out a new pay structure is called for at this point of time (Armstrong & Brown, 2001, p.194). The formalizing of performance management and review systems is important at this stage to identify and recognize the performance of employees. Lack of performance review procedures could lead to loss of talented employees as they would be de-motivated to deliver good performance because of lack of recognition or insufficient appreciation of their works. Changing the quality of work life is important; which includes occupational health care, appropriate salaries and suitable work timing for employees. The overall idea is to improve the working conditions of employees and increasing organizational effectiveness. Lastly a transparent work culture would serve as an important factor for facilitating trust, communication, accountability and responsibility. Increased communication facilitates exchange of information, views and ideas, removes work politics and reduces chances of frustrations and stress in employees which often leads to high rates of attritions in organizations (Lotze, 2004, p.167). Implementation Creating a strong career development process necessarily requires building of strong leadership programs. Leaders would be responsible for coordinating and integrating the entire process of career development of employees. A career development steering committee comprising of some of the key leaders in Advantage Recruitment would act as a guide throughout the career development process. This will be followed by creating an employee development process from the broad talent pool available in the organization. Establishment of an organization wide succession planning is a prerequisite in the process followed by training programs and career coaching discussion would facilitate the process (Hall, 2002, p.290). It is seen that low wages have been one of the primary reasons for high attrition rates in Advantage Recruitments. This calls for a complete redesigning of compensation structures in the organization. Firstly a market analysis needs to be conducted to know the prevailing wages in the market with the subsequent setting of competitive wage levels. This must be followed by preparing an incentive scheme in accordance to the results that it seeks to achieve. Setting incentive schemes is way is one effective way of bettering employee’s performance as well as motivating them. However, a cost benefit analysis must be conducted with regards to the costs to be incurred against the results to be achieved. However, there must be a constant monitoring of performance of the scheme and making corresponding adjustments based on the reviews (Ledgerwood & White, 2006, p.291). The performance management and review system must begin with the setting up of performance standards in the organization. This must be in accordance to the job positions, designations and responsibilities of employees. Employees must have a complete review of their performance through proper and effective performance appraisal systems. A 360 degree of performance appraisal system is recommended in this regard in which performances would be evaluated by superiors, subordinates, colleagues and the employee himself. Employees performing over and above targets and having favorable performance reviews would be rewarded accordingly. The complete working environment in the organization would need a change. This would begin with the setting up of suitable infrastructure and facilities for the benefit of employees. Work schedules would have to be fixed and made flexible for the convenience of employees. Work activities would have to be streamlined and performance and feedback reviews and feedback would be made punctual to remove hindrances in work processes (Robbins, 2009, p.29). Finally the organization culture can be made transparent and this can be done by increasing the communication levels. The organization can set up a common communication network which would be accessible for all and through everyone would share their ideas, views and experiences. Feedback from the management would also be provided through this network and appreciations and rewards too. Impact of Recommendations on overall business It is evident that all HR strategies are directly or indirectly linked with organization performance and productivity. Firstly it is seen that the loss of a single employee incurs costs of $12000 NZD. Thus attrition control is the main challenge before the company. The first recommendation, which is to create a career development program for employees in the organization, is to ensure that they don’t leave the organization on grounds of better job prospects from other organizations. This way the loss incurred through each and every loss of employees can be controlled and subsequently considerable loss in the organization can be saved. The fact that motivation level of employees has a direct correlation with organizational effectiveness and performance can be used in this context. Wage structures must be such which inspires employees to attain a better result which is consequently beneficial for the performance and productivity of the organization. Particularly incentives are a good way of triggering performance of employees. An effective performance management and proper evaluation of the employees is a prerequisite in measuring productivity of organizations. Firstly the drawbacks and loopholes in employee’s skills and expertise can be identified. Based on the loopholes training programs can be formulated or even proper compensation and rewards strategies can be created for rewarding good performances. The association of this program with business performance is based on the fact that employee’s performance reflects through organizational productivity and performance. Finally removal of communication barriers in the way of making the system transparent is most important. Hindrances in the work activities can be removed in the process which fastens the pace with which activities and processes flow in the organization. Additionally the wastes occurring in the process can be removed by the streamlining of activities. Considerable costs associated with wastages, redundancies and job hindrances can be removed through effective and proper communication channels. Increased communication is also important for recognizing and talents and work performances of employees, exchange of ideas and views etc. Employees feel that their contributions in the organizations are valued by remaining in constant contact with the management and colleagues. Moreover, the functioning of the organizations can be made extremely transparent through the process and remove apprehensions among employees about their positions and status in the organization. Thus it can be seen that increased communication indirectly contributes towards curbing employee attritions and consequently saves considerable amount of costs of the management. Timeline for implementation New Initiatives and Approaches Activities/ Weeks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Employee career development Setting up of leadership development program                                     Setting up of career development steering committee       Succession planning       Training, Career coaching discussions       Compensation Packages Comparative analysis of existing wages and salaries in industry       Preparation of incentive scheme       Cost befit analysis of scheme       Monitoring and reviewing of scheme       Performance management and review systems Setting performance standards       Performance appraisal systems       Feedback to employees       Rewards and compensation based on performance       Working environment Infrastructure and facilities       Flexible work timings       Streamlining work activities       Transparent work culture Increasing communication       Common network systems       Regular feedback and exchange of ideas, views and suggestions                                     Reference Armstrong, M. & Brown, D. (2001). New dimensions in pay management. CIPD Publishing. Hall, D. T. (2002). Careers in and out of organizations. SAGE. Ledgerwood, J. & White, V. (2006). Transforming microfinance institutions: providing full financial services to the poor. World Bank Publications. Lotze, E. (2004). Work culture transformation: straw to gold - the modern hero's journey. Walter de Gruyter. Patton, W. & McMahon, M. (2001). Career Development Programs: Preparation for Lifelong Career Decision Making. Aust Council for Ed Research. Robbins, S. (2009). Organizational Behavior, 13/E. Pearson Education India. Bibliography Delattre, E. J. (2011). Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing. Rowman & Littlefield. Hunter, I. (2005). HR business partners. Gower Publishing, Ltd. Read More