Problems with treating humans as resources in contemporary organisations - Essay Example

?What problems might be associated with treating humans as resources in contemporary organisations? Introduction Among the best resources in an organisation are humans (Allan 287). However, there are some problems that are associated with treating humans as resources in contemporary organisations. Humans need to be motivated. In this reason there is a big deal to consider on understanding what exactly will motivate them. Employees are concerned with their needs. In line with this, it is always important for them to meet their expectations and demands. Humans have to meet their needs. There are different needs and their hierarchy. Achieving the right needs means great motivation for them to do their respective tasks. However, it is not just important to know their needs. It should be a great concern on how to approach them in order to find what exactly will motivate them. In cases when there is a need to evaluate employees, it should be clear with them what the company expects them to perform. In short, the company must be able to clearly explain their stand on what standard of performance it wants its employees to perform. Thus, the first problem with treating humans as resources is the complexity of motivating them. Motivation Motivation has something to do with allowing the employees to perform at their best (Bruce 10). However, it is not 100% that all of them are motivated to work. It is important to motivate employees because it is only through this way that an organisational objectives can be achieved at least at some important points. However, it is not easy to motivate manpower because they have specific needs. They have specific wants that need to be taken care of. They have essential opinion or ideas that need to be heard. They have emotions or feelings that need to be carefully addressed. It is important to deal all of these in detail in order to address the right strategy in dealing with manpower and substantially eliminate the associated problems in treating them as resources. Interaction Human resources are not machines or things that have no life of their own. Humans are social beings, interacting at any time in the best possible ways. The best way to deal with them is to associate with them at the best social interaction as possible. However, the right interaction needs to be in timing. There are different ways on how to interact with the human resource. The right communication process is important. However, communications have important barriers. There are different barriers to communication which have important place in an organisation (Singla 125). Physically communication process can be hindered. Humans have significant disabilities such as dysfunctional senses which lead to inappropriate perceptions of things. The right communication can be hindered through this factor. Another contributing factor that may hinder the right communication process is the social aspect. Every human has different beliefs about things in life. People may be the same in their cultural background or may differ at some point. This variation may contribute as important barrier because everyone has the chance to keep his or her own belief. People from different walks of life have different culture. Emotional aspect is another important barrier to effective communication with manpower. Everyone has specific response to everything. A person may be emotionally stable or the other way around. It takes the right emotion to respond to the right communication process. Unstable communication usually leads to failure due to lack of the required understanding between the speaker and the receiver. In the case of employees and the management, the former usually are the ones who have the problem with receiving the right message. The right message is the right indicator of achieving Psychological factor may be another aspect that may hinder the right communication process. Psychological aspects are fundamentals of receiving the right communication process. Employees with sound mind for instance are able to achieve the essential information. Furthermore, those with higher capacity to learn are most likely to pick up the right communication at the best possible option. Imparting the vision Another associated problem with treating humans as resources is the complexity associated with imparting the vision. This requires the right leadership process at the best possible time (Heldman & Heldama 12). However, not all employees are eager to follow the right leadership process. In this way, not everyone has the chance to achieve and follow the vision. Man power requires the right leader at the right situation in order to impart the vision effectively. There is a good chance that the right vision is imparted provided that the right leadership process is associated with it. In the case of most firms which are effective in imparting its vision from the top management down to the subordinates, the right leadership approach is necessary. However, within the bound of leadership process, everyone is given the opportunity to follow what is necessary. However, the human resource has to be treated as the best followers. Unfortunately, not every follower has the right leadership knowledge. In line with this, a certain firm needs to devote enough time educating its subordinates with the right vision. This is going to take time, but in this case, the right management approach is necessary. Unmet expectations Most employees have unmet expectations that at some point become the root cause of management problems or vice versa as far as satisfaction is concerned (Kronberg 97). Employees have also certain standard among themselves on how they want to be served or treated by a certain company or firm. These standards pave way for certain expectations. Unfortunately, some of these expectations could not be met at some time resulting further to employee-management problem. In this case, there is a good chance that the management will be able to pick up the right information on how to meet the expectation of its employees for as long as it is able to learn from it. On the other hand, the management may also have unmeet expectations. This allows the management to critically consider performance of its employees even at unreasonable expectations. This means that the management as stated earlier may at some point se the wrong standard for its employees. In short, there is significant drawback on how employees’ performances are measured the right way. Employee turnover Another significant problem with humans in treating them as resources is a high rate of turnover. Employees most of the time are able to find what they want. They continuously search for jobs that they feel they would do their best better. Furthermore, they constantly in search for those jobs which they would enjoy doing. Unfortunately, such of this mentality usually results to higher employee turnover rate. This at some point incurs additional cost for the company because of the need to hire for replacement, train them and eventually expose them to a new operation (Jackson & Mathis 84). Efficiency of the newly hired is not necessarily high for those who work first time in a company. They require substantial exposure to the whole process in order for them to understand the entire operation. This on the other hand may also create substantial impact on the image of the company. Fast turnover rate of employment in a certain company only promotes the basic idea about the level of management system involved. The company’s background may be put to test and in jeopardy. The reason for this is that existing clients may find it difficult to associate with the newly hired employees. Furthermore, the constant hiring of employees in the case of companies which are not expanding or growing only implies that there is a substantial management problem involve in such firm. Learning and growth Another important problem faced by companies in treating humans as resources is in line with the complex strategies involved in their learning and growth. Learning in growth is required of employees in order for them to effectively do their respective function in the midst of on-going operation and business activities (Chai 104). However, not all of the employees are able to take learning and growth activities and programs seriously. Some of them may sulk in tantrum for letting them obey company policies and programs in line with learning and growth strategies. Learning and growth is also designed to help employees perform the standard operating procedures. For the safety of employees, some of them are required to take extra precautionary measures and standard operating procedures. However, not all of them are able to appreciate the importance of further learning activities. Some employees are not giving enough room within their minds to understand the relevance of learning and growth activities. Customer satisfaction Some employees are not able to have enough understanding about the value of customer satisfaction. Some of them are able to do their respective tasks without the deeper understanding that they have to do it for customer satisfaction. Higher employee satisfaction results to high level of customer satisfaction (Hill & Allen 20). One basic example is the issue usually faced between marketing and accounting departments. These two departments are company’s important operations that usually affect customer satisfaction. The marketing department usually is centered with hitting its quota and ensuring customer satisfaction at the highest level as possible. However, the accounting department is strict about implementing budget and other related accounting matters that at some point may hinder the best performance of marketing department. These two departments involve manpower. These people involved in these departments may be so focused about their respective tasks without taking into account that their basic interests should be in line with those of their customers to ensure guaranteed satisfaction as possible. Assessment It is hard to give trust especially to someone else not tested by time. This principle applies within an organisation. It is hard to trust an employee that is not yet tested in its performance. This is the reason why most of applicants have to undergo special trainings or assessments in order for them to be reliably trusted. However, assessments of manpower especially during the hiring process does not guarantee of choosing the best human resource. Everything has to be tested by time. In this case, a certain company is not 100% given with the assurance that their hired personnel as the best of their kind. Thus, companies usually are faced with situations of hiring some employees with significant problems in their attitude or character. Humans are motivated by desires Another important problem associated with treating humans as resources is their ability to go for their desires in life. Most employees have specific desires. It is a good thing if these will be in line with the company’s goals and achieving its objectives. However, there is a significant problem with this and it highly involves personal desires. Employees have specific desires that they want to achieve especially if they have time to go for them. Some of them may not be in line with the company’s vision. This is a specific challenge among companies because they need to ensure that the vision is implemented by understanding employee’s specific desires. Quality service Some employees do not give too much quality on their service. This means that there are employees who are not really giving their best shot in whatever they do. These employees need further motivation or other related actions that the management needs to implement. Implementation of quality service may not be easy because employees’ skills and basic understanding about their functions need to be understood. In short, employees have to be aware that their services with the company need to be of significant quality and value. Employee management is not easy, because it requires the necessary skills on the part of management. Focus Some employees may lack focus. This is due to the fact that everyone has the chance to experience some issues that are purely part of being human. Some employees may have certain problems that are in line with the basic aspects in life. Some employees may have financial problems that may be carried in the working place. If it is not about financial problems, it may be family problems and so on. These problems at some point may hinder good performance by directing away employees’ focus from work. In other words, these are specific problems that need to be essentially addressed by all organisations employing humans as their most important resources. References Allan, Barbara D. Conquering arthritis: what doctors don’t tell you because they don’t know: 9 secrets I learned the hard way. Missouri: SPFP, Inc., 2002. Bruce, Anne. How to Motivate Every Employee: 24 Proven Tactics to Spark Productivity in the Workplace. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Chai, Nan. Sustainability Performance Evaluation System in Government: A Balanced Scorecard Approach Towards Sustainable Development. Beijing: Springer, 2009. Hill, Nigel & Rachel Allen. Customer Satisfaction: The Customer Experience Through the Customer’s Eyes. London: The Leadership Factor, 2007. Jackson, John H., & Mathis, Robert L. Human Resource Management. Ohio: Cengage Learning, 2007. Kronberg, Ina. Employee Satisfaction on Cruise Ships. Norderstedt: GRIN Verlag, 2011. Heldman, Kim & William Heldman. Microsoft Office Excel 2007 for Project Managers. Indiana: John Wiley and Sons, 2007. Singla, R.K. Business Management. Ambal: FK Publications, 2010. Read More