Human Resource Management and behaviour theories - Essay Example

? Content Cover Page……………………………………………………………………………3 Content……………………………………………………………………………….4 Introduction: ……………………………………………………………..…………5 Significance of the HRM and Organization Behavior theories….6 Assumptions……………………………………………………………………………7 HRM Contemporary theories…............................................................8 Best HR Practices…………………………………………………………………..8 Selective training……………………………………………………………………9 Training and Development………………………………………………….9 Performance Appraisal…………………………………………………………11 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………12 References and Bibliography……………………………………………13-15 Introduction During the contemporary period, it can be noted that the HRM landscape is changing due to various internal as well as external pressures. This can be illustrated by aspects related to HRM performance, HRM best practice as well as strategic human resources management. On the other hand, it can also be said that the changing HRM landscape is closely tied to the aspect of organisation or employee behaviour hence the HR manager has a significant role in deciding the intervention mechanisms that may be considered in using key performance management tools to drive organisational performance. Thus, the manager has a role to identify the needs of the employees and try to fulfill them in a bid to enhance their performance and the organisation as a whole. Strategic human resource management theorists confirm that human resources practices transform into high-performance work practices if HRM and organisation behaviour frameworks have been propagated (Combs, et al 2006). It is also believed that there is a correlation between HRM practices such as recruitment and selection, employee training and development and employee/organisational behaviour tools such as motivation, employee engagement, empowerment and commitment. According to Combs et al (2006), the Human resources are considered to be effectual and liable for company’s growth and progression, lead to increase in productivity and will surely control the costs as well. As such, this essay seeks to critically evaluate the influence of HRM practices and organisational behaviour on organisational performance. The changing HRM landscape organisational behaviour rhetoric The changing landscapes of HRM and organization behavior rhetoric have evolved over time and have had a significant impact on the performance of the employees as well as the organisation as a whole. Earlier, personnel management was primarily concerned with influencing the efforts of the employees towards the attainment of the company’s goals of realizing its profits and the needs of the employees as well as aspects related to their behavior were not given significant priority. During the current period, it can be noted that HRM turns out to be a supporting pillar for the employees and look towards their betterment. Changing HRM landscape leads to tremendous change in the way organisations operate and the managers have a duty to look for these changes. Thus, Michael & Susan (2008) suggest that HR professionals are constantly challenged to meet three competing aims: Striving to be cost effective by reducing the cost of operating services to meet the increasing demands of line managers and employees address the strategic objective of organization Apart from these various influences such as, adoption of technology in HR practices, outsourcing, transactional or routine activities, allocating more responsibilities to line managers are some of the factors characterizing the changing landscape of HRM. On the other hand, organisational behaviour rhetoric is mainly concerned with issues that are related to employment and emphasis is put on aspects such as work itself, organisational productivity, performance of the employees as well the organisation as a whole. Against this background, it can be noted that there is a strong correlation between HRM and organisational behaviour since they are oriented towards the employees. There is need for the responsible leaders to put mechanisms that are meant to ensure that the employees are satisfied so that they can put maximum effort in their performance which can lead to improvement in the organisation’s productivity. The needs of the employees are also constantly changing and there need for the leaders to take into consideration these changes. Organizational behavior rhetoric is liable for helping the company to meet the expected standard performance rate and this can allow the company to carry its business practices at its best possible degree. Performance of the employees can be enhanced by offering reward and compensation to outstanding performance, regular training sessions, employee’s active participation and flexible working schedules. As such, from an HR specialist’s point of view, there is need to employ the above mentioned tools in order to improve employees’ knowledge and competence which would be highly beneficial to the organisation as a whole. This will ensure job satisfaction, high productivity and better decision making. Saari & Judge (2008) concur that employee’s happiness can lead to improvement of the performance of the organisation as a whole. Organisational growth can be impossible without the employees hence it is imperative for the HR specialist to ensure that measures are put in order to positively change the behavior of the workers. Significance of the HRM and Organizational Behavior Theories HRM and Organizational Behavior Theories have been developed with the aim of establishing the extent to which these two important aspects have a bearing on the overall performance of the organisation as a whole. The HR managers or leaders in an organisation have a responsibility of motivating the employees so that they improve their performance. In most cases, it can be noted that the leaders play a significant role in giving direction to the employees so that their efforts can be directed towards the attainment of the same set goals. Various tools can be implemented in order to improve the operations of the employees. It also has to be observed that HRM and organisational behaviour theories are related to culture, motivation, leadership as well as traits and these have a bearing on the performance of the employees and the organisation. Basically, these theories often provide a theoretical framework upon which managers can derive strategies to cope up with internal and external complexities related to the business environment. Thus, change is inevitable in an organisation of which failure to adopt it can lead to poor performance of the employees. Against this background, Caldwell (2004) had formulated twelve policy goals for HRM which also have an impact on the behaviour of employees- 1. Managing people as assets to the organisation is fundamental to the competitive advantage of the organization; 2. Aligning HRM policies with business policies and corporate strategy; 3. Developing a close fit of HR policies, procedures and systems with one another; 4. Creating a flatter and more flexible organization capable of responding more quickly to change; 5. Encouraging team-working and cooperation across internal organizational boundaries; 6. Creating a strong customer-first philosophy throughout the organization; 7. Empowering employees to manage their own self-development and learning; 8. Developing reward strategies designed to support a performance-driven culture; 9. Improving employee involvement through better internal communication; 10. Building greater employee commitment to the organization; 11. Increasing line management responsibility for HR policies; 12. Developing and facilitating role of managers as enablers. Assumptions underpinning the way HRM and behaviour theories have been propagated The basic assumption underpinning the propagation of HRM and behaviour theories is that performance of the organisation as a whole is driven by the efforts of the people who work in that particular company (Mercer, Barker & Bird, 2010).The HRM has a role to influence the behaviour of the employees so that they can improve their performance which ultimately benefits the organisation. Thus, without the employees, organisations may not exist. It is widely believed that organizational performance is interrelated to employees unending efforts towards the company. Thus HRM practices and organization behavior are responsible for influencing the performance of the organization (Mercer, Barker & Bird, 2010). Contemporary HRM Themes The underlying themes of HR practice during the contemporary period are mainly concerned with recruitment, selection and employee training and development. These HR best practices play a pivotal role with regards to the viability of the organisation. The success of the organisation strongly depends on these HR practices but it has to be noted that there is a close link between these practices and employee/organisational behaviour which is mainly influenced by the efforts of the HRM (Scullion, Collings & Gunnigle, 2007). Behaviour tools such as the motivation, employee engagement as well as empowerment and commitment have a bearing on the performance of the organisation hence these two concepts play a complementary role to each other. HR specialists ought to ensure that they implement the best HRM practices which have to be linked with behavioural tools that are meant to ensure that individual performance is improved and managed properly in a bid to achieve the set goals and objectives. According to Armstrong (2000), the notion of best practice HRM is concerned with obtaining, organizing and motivating the human resources required by the corporation. HRM has been described as "a perspective on personnel management" and "high-concept personnel management' (Armstrong, 1996). The importance of involving and developing people which is characteristic of current approaches to HRM has been emphasized by the resource-based theory of the firm formulated by Barney (1991). This suggests that competitive advantage is achieved if a firm can obtain and develop human resources which enable it to learn faster and apply its learning more effectively than its rivals. An approach based on this concept is aimed at improving resource capabilities (Kamoche, 1996). The aim of these approaches is to achieve strategic fit between resources and opportunities as well as obtaining added value from the effective deployment of these resources. In addition, the emergence of HRM as a panacea for integrating business strategy and people management has exposed personnel practitioners to a new set of role demands, professional challenges and managerial expectations that have underscored the gaps between HR rhetoric and reality (Thompson, 2002). Pfeffer (1994, 1998) and Huselid (1995) propose a series of HR practices beneficial to business results and these are characterized by shareholder perspective mainly based on the resource-based view as a theoretical framework (Barney, 1991, 1995). Thus, enactment of HRM contemporary themes in the management of individuals in contemporary organisations which is aimed at improving performance of the employees and the firm ought to encompass the following factors: Selective hiring- Recruiting outstanding people often results in improved performance output as well as added value to the stakeholders’ perspective (Wolf and Jenkins, 2006). Various selection tools are available and these include- References- evaluation and endorsement obtained from the third parties who know the applicant well. Interviews- This toll fits both the organization and candidate expectation as it provides means to access the individual’s social skill, cognitive ability and establishing a candidate’s organizational fit. Psychometric testing- Searle, (2003) concluded that around 70% of the firms use psychometric test. This helps in measuring individual’s characteristics such as personality, abilities, intelligence, interest and aptitude. Work samples- This tool helps in accessing both the current skill and ability levels such as job-knowledge tests or situational judgment tests, as well as future work related skills such as trainability tests and assessment center exercise. Training and development- Extensive training and formal training systems are considered as best practices, help the employers by providing professional expertise and product knowledge and in getting the best of situation (Pfeffer, 1998, Huselid, 1995, Delery & Doty, 1996). Training is used to describe activities which are intended to help the person being trained to confine to a particular pattern of behavior or to reach a set standard (Hackett, 2006). However Paul & Anantharaman, (2003) concluded that training programmes are more task or project-based rather than being focused on employee development hence training does not add to the competence of employees, but enhances employee productivity. In contrast a team-based job design encourages informal communication and strong working relationships among the professionals (Paul & Anantharaman, 2003). Thus, Wexley & Latham (2002) classified training into - 1. On the job training Apprenticeship Job Aids Coaching Mentoring Technology based training Cross training and job roatation 2. Off the Job training Corporate universities and institutes Instructor-led classrooms E-learning Various training techniques deal with increasing manager’s motivation level and these include the following: Role motivation theory- This theory based on the need to lead others and to improve their performance. Two primary objectives of this training initiative are: to help the manager to manage effectively and achieve the desire to reach a certain distinctive position. Training in need of achievement- The need for achievement refers to an individual's preference for success under conditions of competition.  Thus this theory is influenced by the need to achieve, excel and succeed. Thus the overall motive of this training is to increase one’s motivation level to excel in the job. Behaviour modification or social learning theory- It explains human behaviour in terms of environmental determinants. Behaviour modelling is used to train supervisors how to interact effectively with the employees (Wexley & Latham, 2002). Performance Appraisal- The process of managing employee rewards involves - Documenting Performance Performance planning Review Meetings Diagnosing, Problem solving and communication The Reward and punishment Performance appraisal is an opportunity for both the organization and the individual employee to review his current level of knowledge, identify the gaps that may exist and take necessary steps to enhance his competences. Performance appraisal, which is again linked to rewards and other benefits, motivates the employee to update his knowledge and skills (Latham and Wexley, 1981). Among all HRM practices, employee ownership has a direct causal influence on all operational performance parameters namely employee retention, employee productivity, product quality, speed of delivery and operating cost (Pfeffer, 1994; 1998, Huselid, 1995 & Youndt et al, 1996). Thus, according to Paul & Anantharaman, (2003), it is good for companies to keep a proper balance between individual and team performance through offering incentive schemes such as employee stock options. These are likely to impact positively on the goals of the organisation in the long run. Compensation which involves both quantity and quality dimensions in framing of the compensation package also affects organizational commitment. Thus, higher pay may not always increase operating costs if it is used to enhance overall productivity of the organization. Many studies found compensation and rewards to be the major factors determining the degree of organizational commitment by employees (Steers, 1977; Mowday et al., 1982; Angle, 1983 &Mottaz, 1988). Conclusion Over and above, it can be noted that as a result of the changing HRM landscape, HRM practices and organizational behavior theories are said to be important and significant enough in as far as improvement of the performance of the employees and the organisation as a whole are concerned. It is commendable for HR specialists to adopt best practices that could lead to positive and money-spinning results. The best practice approach has to go hand in hand with other components of organisational behaviour in order to improve its overall performance. However one cannot standardize the best practice HRM given that the firm’s demand for HRM is systematically linked to a variety of economic, technological, organizational, and management characteristics. Examples include firm size, level of wages, and female proportion of the workforce, industrial sector, and HRM performance goal. References Combs, J, Liu, Y., Hall, A and Ketchen, D 2006, ‘How much do high-performance work practices matter? A meta-analysis of their effects on organizational performance’, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 59 pp: 501–528. Caldwell, R 2004, Rhetoric, facts and self-fulfilling prophesies: exploring practitioners’ perceptions of progress in implementing HRM, Industrial Relations Journal, 35 (3), pp 196– 215. Human Resource Management Good Practices. (n.d.) Viewed, 13 November, 2011, Islam, Z, Mahtab, H & Ahmad, ZA (n.d.) ‘The Role of Knowledge Management Practices on Organizational Context and Organizational Effectiveness’, ABAC Journal, Vol. 28(1) pp: 42-53. Mercer, J, Barker, B & Bird, R 2010, Human Resource Management in Education: Contexts, Themes, and Impact. Taylor & Francis. Organizational Behavior Theories. (n.d.) 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