Organisational Human Resource Management

The dependence of an organisation on sustainability and profitability for growth hinges on the managerial ability to define goals and analyse the viable strategic approach for the realisation of the set targets (Bailey et al., 2018).  The business environment is always deemed as dynamic considering the constant fluctuations that arise from changing consumer needs, technological innovations and competition. In the case under analysis, firms ought to develop internal efficiencies to allow for the overcoming of the emerging challenges and the harnessing of opportunities. While a corporation’s leadership can attain perfection in the setting of aims and the understanding of the market trends, structural alignment which includes the harnessing of the human resource’s commitment is essential in ensuring successful implementation of plans. Different individuals within a firm’s workforce are characterised by varying skill sets and personal needs thus calling for the precision in recruitment, empowerment initiatives, and motivation. Employees form a vital element of a business’ success because they are the sources of ideas, creativity, and innovation. Furthermore, they reflect an organisation’s sense of identity in upholding the ascribed values. The reputation of an organisation from the perspective of the customers is defined by the quality of service delivery whereby, values including honesty, diligence, care, and prioritisation upheld by the respective employees are defined as pivotal (Brewster et al., 2018). The current essay will include an assessment of declining customer base, revenue creation, and profitability attributed to inefficiency in the performance and motivation of the employees in a past organisation. Here, the concepts from Bolman and Deal’s ‘Four Frames’ will be used to identify and justify opportunities for action and develop further insights into the understanding of organisational human resource management.

Working in an organisation allows one to apply the skills attained from school in a practical set-up and my case; I was able to serve in a firm in the retail industry.  The experience I obtained as a subordinate stuff from my previous workplace helped me to observe the declining performance in a business where the deterioration could be attributed to inefficiencies in the human resource management. Here, it is important to note that the retail industry is primarily founded on the provision of direct customer services and while the products offered by the different business are relatively similar, the differentiating factor is the manner in which clients are served. The firm at hand sold household supplies, and during the given time, there was a change in the human resource manager which subsequently saw the business experience increase in employee turnover to 47 percent from 15 percent in the preceding year. The customer complaints in the company significantly surged, the revenue per employee declined by 20 percent while the customers served fall by 25 percent in the subject year compared to the previous fiscal period. Here, uncertainty marked the future sustainability of the business as the market share and profitability reduced.

Exploration of the Issue using Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame

Deducting from Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame, the organisational ethics governing the management of employees is ‘caring’ whereby; a manager’s focus ought to be on the workforce skills and limitation, prejudices, relationships, feelings and needs (Bolman & Deal, 2013). In the case of the firm at hand, it is apparent that there was a mismatch between the new manager’s perspective and the aspirations of the personnel that led to the deteriorating performance of the business. Employee turnover is a crucial performance ratio that indicates the level of commitment to the organisation held by the human resources whereby, an increase in the number of individuals leaving the firm to communicate low levels of motivation and a mismatch between individual needs and the business objectives (Debroux, 2018). The increase in the employee turnover from 15 percent to 47 percent revealed that personnel perceived that the subject firm did not provide the appropriate platform for career development and thus opted to seek employment in other entities. The focus on skills and limitations as well as the needs of individuals would have allowed the human resource management to define the means of increasing work fulfillment and satisfaction of employees through team-building, training, promotions and financial awards that would have prevented high turnover (Tejavath, 2018). Loss of talent and skills through resignation hamper revenue generation and lead to costs associated with the recruitment process (Christiansen & Biron, 2018).

Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame explains that the images of a leader include those of a coach, catalyst and a servant (Bolman & Deal, 2013). However, in the case of the entity at hand, it is imminent that the impression created by the human resource manager failed to inspire the proper motivation in the employees. Efficiency in influencing personnel is bound to lead to increasing marginal revenue and individual retention while customer complaints associated with service delivery are reduced. The depiction of a supervisor as a ‘catalyst’ refers to the ability to enhance the commitment to work, however, in the subject firm; the given attribute was not attained as the employee energy declined as witnessed in the revenue per employee statistics (Lucas &, Grant, 2018). Additionally, coached personnel can offer quality customer service as opposed to the case of the organisation being assessed whereby; the increasing complaints could be related to treatment without courtesy or prioritisation.

Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame asserts that the necessary leadership assumptions include the fact that individuals and institutions need each other, organisational-individual alignment benefit both parties, organisational health is reliant on productive relationships, and that learning is pivotal to change and productivity (Bolman & Deal, 2013). The issues in the past organisation that culminated into uncertainty regarding future growth and sustainability are related to the firm’s managerial inability to understand and implement the provisions identified in Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame. Here, the subject business failed to develop productive relationships with the personnel that could have led to mutual benefits and on the contrary, the apparent neglect of the employee needs to be directed to failing revenue generation of the firm and job dissatisfaction for the workforce. The profound factor as far as the incorporation of the knowledge found in Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame regarding leadership assumptions in the subject firm is the learning. The monitoring and evaluation of performance is a central aspect of management and the declining human resource performance in the past organisation would have been detected early enough to pave the way for timely change and correct the declining productivity. The development of a responsive approach to the business challenges and opportunities requires precision in learning whereby, trends and predictions can be deduced from the analysis of data to allow for change (Shipton, 2016).

The Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame identifies that the leadership logic is attending to people and in the case, the needs of the personnel including the training, recognition and the intrinsic as well as monetary rewards ought to be considered in the daily business operations (Bolman & Deal, 2013). The organisation is deemed to have failed to attend to the employees and subsequently led to the fall in retention and commitment to work. Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame notes that managerial priority should be care and in attention. In the case at hand, it is vital to give utmost concern for employees as far as individual aspirations are concerned. While the new human resource manager could have prioritised the needs of the firm, the failure to attend and care for the employees can be explained as the cause of the declined organisational performance regarding personnel retention and revenue generation.

Identification and Justification of Opportunities for Action

The personal chance of action emanating from the human resource management issue in the past organisation is learning. While serving in the subject firm, my employment capacity was the functional level, and hence, the participation in decision making and human resource management policy formulation was limited. Here, it is important to note that the foundation of career development and growth in the corporate world is the attainment of experience that will allow for the serving in the critical capacities in subsequent periods. The experience in the former firm provided an opportunity for learning of the pivotal leadership attributes for the attainment of organisational success as far as human resource management is concerned. The observation of the business’ declining employee productivity, customer satisfaction, and revenue generation acted as the focus points in creating enlightenment on how a leader ought to act (Nixon, 2018). Here, I was able to learn the importance of performance monitoring and evaluation as well as open communication in developing a mutually fulfilling working environment for the employees and the firm. The periodic analysis of revenue per generation, employee turnover and customer base regarding quarterly and semi-annual basis while comparing with the historical data would have allowed for timely changing of the developing situation. Moreover, the aspect of increasing number of personnel leaving the organisation is related to the issue of communication whereby, the issues causing the apparent dissatisfaction would have been channelled to the management and ensures that consensus was created to foster the retention of skills and talent. The steps involved in learning include the definition of the problem, assessment of the current actions and the outlining of the alternative actions that would have produced the desired results. Here, the guiding element is the realisation of ‘how to’ and ‘how not to’ manage the human resources in an organisation.

The opportunity for action for the subject organisation’s human resource manager is the alignment of the firm and the employee needs. The assessment of the state of business which included the declining productivity and the growing employee turnover provided sufficient grounds for the realisation of the mismatch between the human resource management structure and the personal desires of the workforce. Deducting from Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame, the organisational-employee alignment will benefit the business as well as the workforce as witnessed in the case of increasing job satisfaction and revenue generation. Proficiency in management requires that one can note the existing and the projected trends for the development of mitigation to sustain profitability and avoid extensive losses, business uncertainty and the loss of the competitive advantage in the market (Boxall & Purcell, 2016). In the case of the subject organisation, upon the realisation of the inefficiencies in the performance of employees, the alignment of the organisational and individual needs would allow for the increase of workforce motivation and commitment to the provision of exemplary customer service delivery. Abstracting from Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame, the appropriate steps applicable for the imminent opportunity for action include; 

•    Step one will be the development of open communication: here, horizontal exchange of information between the human resource manager and the employees will be created to allow for the provision of work feedback and comments, airing of concerns as well as suggestions. The problematic issues affecting the personnel will be discussed between individuals and the leadership for the attainment of consensus.

•     Step two is the employee empowerment: The phase will include the enhancing of autonomy in the business whereby, employees will be allowed to contribute ideas and implement creative initiatives that affect work efficiency and customer service delivery. Independence acts as a motivational factor in that; personnel attains a sense of belonging in the firm (Malik, 2018).

•    Step three is the enhancement of support, coaching, and care of employees: Here, the identification of individual training needs, sources of motivation and career ambition will be undertaken by the human resource management to allow the organisation to facilitate the attainment of the given elements. Regular inter-personal interactions and formal forums where employees can suggest the means under which further work efficiency and motivation can be attained will be developed.

•    The final step is the development of monitoring and performance appraisal plan which will allow the human resource manager to recognise any further deviations while creating the avenue for the improvement of employee efficiency, as well as the firm service delivery, growth, and profitability. Periodic assessment of revenue per employee, the rate of customer complaints and employee turnover will enhance the attainment of the step.

Insights

The assessment of the issues in the previous organisation about the provisions in Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame creates a platform for the development of new ideas as far as business performance, and employee needs are concerned. The profound insight is the fact that attending to and caring of employees is central to organisational productivity. It is imminent that employees can be perceived as part of the resources of a firm and hence, the personal concern can be deemed as unnecessary (Machado & Davim, 2018). However, the importance of caring and attending to the workforce as asserted by Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame is evidenced by the increasing employee turnover at the subject firm which is deemed to have developed due to the lack of empowerment, support, and care from the firm’s management. The guiding element in the treatment of personnel can be explained as centered on ensuring that work commitment and job satisfaction is attained (Sparrow et al., 2017). Motivated and empowered employees can work devotedly and diligently leading to an increase in customer satisfaction, revenue per employee and the overall productivity of the business (Bratton & Gold, 2017). Furthermore, cared and attended workforce has a low turnover level hence preventing the expenditure on the recruitment which is a time consuming and expensive process. My contribution to the developing understanding of my framing of the human resource issue in the previous organisation is founded on the ability to create connections between the occurrences in the business and the assertions provided in Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame.

The second insight is on the fact that organisational-individual alignment is beneficial to both parties. Initially, the held notion was that the efficiency in human resource management was centred on increasing the growth and profitability of the business at the expense of the employees. However, from the assessment of Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame and the organisation at hand, it is evident that the appropriate handling of employee concerns benefits the personnel through increased job satisfaction and career growth. Empowered individuals in an organisation can perform diligently, amass skills, and earn promotions and financial rewards leading to achievement and personal growth (Itani, 2017). It is apparent that while the investment on employee motivation can be deemed as a costly undertaking, the benefits attained from a satisfied human resource are higher and form the central point towards sustainability, growth, competitiveness, and profitability of the organisation (Bolman & Deal, 2013). The aspect of mutual benefits in organisational-employee alignment was ‘out of sight’ in that, the previous focus of organisational success was on the achievement of goals such as the expansion of market share and the increase in revenues as opposed to the development of a motivated workforce.

Summary of the Organisational Human Resource Issue based on Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame

The success of organisational objectives is reliant on the efficiency of the human resource management whereby, the implementation of the defined strategies are primarily undertaken by the employees who ought to be motivated and empowered to perform roles diligently. The depiction of a leader as a coach, catalyst and a servant as asserted by Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame indicates that leaders are directly responsible for the performance of the person being supervised. Here, it is vital that human resource managers undertake the analysis of the organisational needs and the aspirations of the employees and create an alignment of the given aspects as a way of enhancing productivity. Bolman and Deal’s Human Resource Frame reiterates on the element of learning as being pivotal in developing change and productivity. In the case, diligence in the assessment of the environment based on available data as well as the provision of open communication will ensure that the requisite information for empowerment, support, and care of employees is attained. The success of the organisation as far as human resource management is concerned is therefore founded on the development of productive relationships between the firm and the workforce (Lucas & Grant, 2018).

Reference List

Bailey, C., Mankin, D., Kelliher, C., & Garavan, T. N 2018, ‘Strategic human resource management’, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E 2013, ‘Reframing organisations: artistry, choice, and leadership’, San Francisco, California: John Wiley & Sons: Jossey-Bass, 2013

Boxall, P. F., & Purcell, J 2016, ‘Strategy and human resource management’, London; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W., & Farndale, E 2018, ‘Handbook of research on comparative human resource management’, Cheltenham Edward Elgar, 2018

Bratton, J., & Gold, J 2017, ‘Human Resource Management: theory and practice’, London Macmillan Education Palgrave, 2017

Christiansen, L. C., & Biron, M 2018, ‘The global human resource management casebook’, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge.

Debroux, P 2018, ‘Human resource management in Japan: changes and uncertainties: a new human resource management system fitting to the global economy’, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2018. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1693058.

Itani, S 2017, ‘Ideological Evolution of Human Resource Management’, Bingley, Emerald Publishing Limited. http://www.myilibrary.com?id=1033791.

Lucas, M., & Grant, J 2018, ‘Strategic human resource management: perspectives, implementation and challenges’, New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2018. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1697014.

Malik, A 2018’, Strategic Human Resource Management and Employment Relations An International Perspective’, Singapore: Springer Singapore : Imprint: Springer, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0399-9.

Machado, C., & Davim, J. P 2018, ‘Organisational behaviour and human resource management: a guide to an specialized MBA course. Cham, Switzerland: Springer,2018

Nixon, C 2018, ‘Global Human Resource Management’, London, ETP. http://public.eblib.com/choice/PublicFullRecord.aspx?p=5390482.

Shipton, H 2016, ‘Human resource management, innovation and performance’, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan. 2016

Sparrow, P., Brewster, C., & ChŏNg, C 2017, ‘Globalizing human resource management’, London; New York: Rutledge, 2017. http://www.tandfebooks.com/isbn/9781315668611.

Tejavath, B 2018, ‘Human resource management’, New Delhi: A.P.H. Publishing Corporation, 2018