hrm draft 2

8/8/2019 HRM draft 2

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Employee reactions to HRM

&

Performance in developing country

Employees are the most important assets of the organization, their reaction about HRM

function is important to ensure organizations goals. Employee reactions mean employee

view or attitudes. HRM is the part of the organization concerned with the people dimension

and performance management means managing all elements of the organizational process

that affect how well employees perform. This is a research type article and its objective is to

examine employee reactions to Human Resource Management & Performance of the

organization. There is a lack of information regarding the dynamics of HRM in

underdeveloped countries and employee reactions are always neglected about HRM

practices. So, the authors- Fitsum Ghebregiorgis and Luchien Karsten intended to presentfresh evidence from a fresh international angle to fill the gaps.

The research was carried out in a developing African country named Eritrea. The article

contains the research consequences and analysis with evidences from other HRM related

researches. The findings shows a positive picture of HRM practices, which include:

grievances handling procedure, promotion from within, proper staffing, quality of training,

reasonable compensation, in line with firm standards and paid vacation and sick days.

The perception of employees that management has a good attitude towards them is likely to

promote sound relationships between management and the workforce. Although the datasuggest that employees have less influence on what goes on within the organization.

(Relations at Work)

Employees indicate that management knows what competences are needed for the firm and

has a strict follow-up to asses the performance as well as the behavior of newly hired

employees. It has been revealed that management strives for good staffing in the sense that it

believes that the right people are placed in the right position. Employees also stated that

management usually favors internal recruitment. The surveys findings also indicate that

despite their cultural heterogeneity, employees negatively react to the prevalence of nepotism

and favoritism. (Recruitment and Selection)

Employees are confident with the quality of training they had. Evidence also shows that the

organization seems to be less willing to allocate a specific budget for training. Employees

iterate that training has a great impact on job satisfaction, ability to do the job, job security, as

a motivation to work and for future employment prospects, but has small impact on

promotion and pay rise. Training was not integrated in a planned way to employees career

development. Research has shown that HRM practices are likely to meet with negative

employee reactions where they are incompatible with workers prior experience. (Training &

Development)


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Employees stated that they get a reasonable compensation that is in line with organizational

standards and variable compensation. Employees indicated that they get payment for time not

worked such as sick days and paid vacation days, and mandatory benefits such as disability

benefits and medical expenses. (Compensation)

Employees indicated that productivity has been increasing over the period of five years, while

employee turnover, absenteeism, and grievances were low. (Organizational Performance)

The study is limited only to two industries. There might be limitations of the generalisability

of the findings. That means A research finding may be entirely valid in one setting but not in

another. It may not be applicable to all organizations in developing countries in general and

Africa in particular due to vast differences in social and cultural environments. There is a

common suspicion among Eritrean employees that any research material being circulated has

something to do with their personal life. Hence, confidence had to build in the workforce

ensuring research confidentiality.

Employee satisfaction is crucial to firm performance because satisfaction enhance employee

commitment to work better & stay longer with the organization. More specifically, how

employees respond to HRM initiatives will also play a key role in determining the impact that

such initiatives may have on organizational performance.

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Critical Analysis:

**Importance of exploring employee reactions:There were researches conducted in HRM from managerial perspective. One main aspect that

has been missing in these developments is the view of the workforce. How HRM policies and

practices are carried out in a given organization, can be more highlighted by exploring how

workers respond to it. The option of exploring the experience of HRM systems from the point

of view of employees on the receiving end seems to provide broader way of evaluating HRM.

The rationale for this is a dual one; on the one hand it helps analyzing the contribution of

HRM to overall firm performance; and on the other hand it sheds another light on evaluation

of HRM practices as experienced by employees. Roberts, G.E. (1998) suggests that: the

employee attitude survey is an invaluable tool in the analysis of HRM problems, and when

used properly provides a wealth of useful information to improve HRM.

Which Functions were discussed & why?

Four Basic HRM functions are Staffing, Training & Development, Motivation, and

Maintenance. In this Article authors surveyed some HRM functions and the survey requested

information from each employee about his or her experience with regard to HRM and

performance. Relations at work, Recruitment and selection, Training and Development,

compensation and organizational performance were survey issues. These HRM functions

were selected because; these functions include basic HRM functions and help to monitororganizational performance. Descriptions below will help to understand why these functions

were chosen to understand HRM function and determine organizational performance.

Relations at Work: Relations at work include terms like employee influence in the

organization, employee performance, employee rights, employee satisfaction, and

managements attitude towards employees. Employee relation at work reveals

employee attitude about organization, which is very important as we learned in the

very beginning of this course. Employee Relations involves the body of work

concerned with maintaining employer-employee relationships that contribute to

satisfactory productivity, motivation, and morale. Essentially, Employee Relations is

concerned with preventing and resolving problems involving individuals who arise

out of or affect work situations. The perception of employees that management has a

good attitude towards them is likely to promote sound relationships between

management and the workforce.

** What will happen if there is a negative relation with the employees at work?

Negative relation reflects negative attitude which will effect on the output of

employee work.

Employee commitment and loyalty towards management will decrease.

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Lack of communication will lead to lack of information regarding internal

audit.

What makes employees work? What makes employees not work? That

depends on how well their needs are met. So if there needs are not met then

they are likely to stop working.

Recruitment & Selection: Herzberg said If you want people motivated to do a good

job, give them a good job to do.

Recruitment is an important part of an organizations human resource planning and

their competitive strength. The objective of the recruitment process is to obtain the

number and quality of employees that can be selected in order to help the organizationto achieve its goals and objectives. Recruitment helps to create a pool of prospective

employees for the organization, so that the management can select the right candidate

for the right job from this pool. Recruitment can be internalorexternal.Internalrecruitment practice may boost employee morale because it gives them a feeling that

management cares about the advancement of its employees whenever an opportunity

is created and there are chances of career development.

Selection then consists of the processes involved in choosing from applicants a

suitable candidate to fill a post. Here is an example of selection process:

Recruiting people who are wrong for the organization can lead to increased labor

turnover, increased costs for the organization, and lowering of morale in the existing

workforce. In order to be truly effective it is essential that a business has the right

kind of personnel. Finding the right staff means that recruitment and selectionprocesses are a key factor in the success of any business.

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** Why organization needs sound recruitment & selection process?

Organizational performance always depends in part on subordinates having

the right skills and attributes.

Recruiting and hiring employees is costly.

To ensure Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

Recruiting people who are wrong for the organization can lead to

- increased labor turnover,

- increased costs for the organization,

- And lowering of morale in the existing workforce.

Training & Development: Training refers to the process of imparting specific skills. It

is a learning process that involves the acquisition of knowledge, sharpening of skills,

concepts, rules, or changing of attitudes and behaviors to enhance the performance of

employees. Development refers to those learning opportunities designed to help

employees grow. Development is not primarily skill-oriented. Instead, it provides

general knowledge and attitude which will be helpful to employees in higher

positions.

Knowledge about business environment, management principles and techniques,human relations, specific industry analysis, and the like is useful for better

management of the company.

The need for training & development is determined by the employees deficiency,

computed as follows:

Training & Development need= Standard performance Actual performance

Aim/Objectives of Training & Development:

The fundamental aim of training is to help the organization achieve its purpose by

adding value to its key resource- the people it employees. The particular objectivesare to:

1. Develop the competences of employees and improve their performance.

2. Help people to grow within the organization in order that, as far as its possible,

its future needs for human resources can be met form within.

3. Reduce the learning time for employees starting in new jobs on appointment,

transfers or promotion, and ensure that they become fully competent as quickly

and economically as possible.

The basic difference between training and development is:

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Training helps to make the employee of a company to be more effective and efficient

in the present role and responsibilities of the job i.e. fulfill short term needs of any

company but development helps to improve the overall personality dimensions of an

employee to take up any future assignments if any and better equipped to handle any

critical situations might occur i.e. fulfill long term needs of any company.

** What impact training & development has on organizational performance?

Training and Development-

Helps in optimizing the utilization of human resource that further helps the

employee to achieve the organizational goals as well as their individual goals.

Provide an opportunity and broad structure for the development of human

resources technical and behavioral skills in an organization.

Helps in increasing the productivity of the employees that helps the

organization further to achieve its long-term goal.

Helps in improving upon the quality of work and work-life.

Helps in improving the morale of the work force and creating abetter corporate image.

Training and Development helps in developing leadership skills,motivation, loyalty, better attitudes, and other aspects thatsuccessful workers and managers usually display.

Compensation: Compensation is the methods and practices of maintaining balance

between interests of operating the company within the fiscal budget and attracting,

developing, retaining, and rewarding high quality staff through wages and salaries

which are competitive with the prevailing rates for similar employment in the labor

markets.

Compensation is a tool used by management for a variety of purposes to further the

existence of the company. Compensation may be adjusted according the business

needs, goals, and available resources.

Different types of compensation include:

Base Pay (salary, Wages)

Commissions

Overtime Pay

Bonuses, Profit Sharing, Merit Pay

Stock Options

Travel/Meal/Housing Allowance

Benefits including: dental, insurance, medical, vacation, leaves, retirement,

taxes etc.

**Why does organization need a sound Compensation policy?

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Recruit and retain qualified employees.

Increase or maintain morale/satisfaction.

Reward and encourage peak performance.

Achieve internal and external equity.

Reduce turnover and encourage company loyalty.

Modify (through negotiations) practices of unions.

These are the function of HRM on which a survey was conducted to find out employee

attitude in an organization. Now we are about to find out how these function affect

Organizational Performance and how managers monitor and deal with it.

Organizational Performance: Organizational performance refers to the actual output or results

of an organization as measured against its intended outputs (orgoals and objectives).

In all organizations, performance relates to organizational purpose.

Performance also needs to reflect achievements relative to the resources used by the

organization.

Performance must be considered within the environment in which the institution does

its work.

The first component reflects the organization's mission (goals & objectives); the second

component reflects how well the organization manages its resources (employee, capital,

information), and the third, its adaptability within the context of external forces.

In this article organizational performance were evaluated by employees on these variable:-

1. Productivity of the organization

2. Employee turnover

3. Employee grievances

4. Absenteeism.

Employee respond were taken to furnish information regarding performance was that

managers may exaggerate (conceal the weaknesses) in their report of performance. Hence,

the views of non-managerial employees were sought irrespective of management practices.

Implications for managers from research: Managers need to analyze the need for training andit should be provided in light of its impact in bringing change in both the organization and

the individual employee. There should be goal congruence because if the firm is to develop

and prosper, then the employee should also be trained and developed. The absence of

advancement opportunities could discourage hard work. Firms should take into account the

specific circumstances of their employees while designing and implementing HRM practices.

Second, there is a need to cohere compensation with training and employee development.

HRM practices must also be aligned with one another if they are eventually to have an effect

on firm performance.

Effectiveness of the research:

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http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Organizationhttp://www.wordiq.com/definition/Goalhttp://www.wordiq.com/definition/Objectiveshttp://www.wordiq.com/definition/Organizationhttp://www.wordiq.com/definition/Goalhttp://www.wordiq.com/definition/Objectives


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Present Scenario of HRM in Bangladesh & Relation with Research

Context

HRM practices in Bangladesh are better than the past. In the past, HR role was concentrated

to hiring firing and letter issuance-dispatching-filing stage. Now it has started to perform

more than that. Employers have started to understand that the more they invest in human

resources the more output is likely which lead them to emphasize on employee capability

development. Whereas, in Eritrea, the dynamics of HRM derive fundamentally from the

establishment of firms with foreign interest during colonial times, as well as through the

exposure to the British/American oriented curricula of the countrys education system.

Like Eritrean economy, Bangladeshi economy is also largely based on agriculture and the

manufacturing industries. There are cultural diversities between Bangladeshi and Eritrean

setting. Supporting and loyalty to the family is one of the most cherished values in bothsocieties.

Employee rights and benefits are protected through NCEW (National Confederation of

Eritrean Workers) in Eritrea. In Bangladesh there are labor unions who act on behalf of their

members by negotiating contracts with management. Some HR actions have legal

implications. But in Bangladeshi context legal explanation does not seem to be adequate.

There is lack of uniformity of the interpretation of law that lead to practice by organizations

in different way. There is also ambiguity of existing legal policy or detailed policy

framework on HR actions seems to be incomplete.

Employer - Employee relationships in Bangladesh is better than the past. Employers now

recognize the importance of employees participation in business planning, major decision

making and organizational change process. Many organizations now conduct employee

opinion surveys for collecting employee feedback and improve employer- employee

relationships.

Eritrean managers mentioned that they are committed to equal opportunity employment

(EEO) for men, women, and physically handicapped members of the Eritrean society, giving

due consideration to ability, experience and education. Firm has a recruitment committee

composed of people from different departments in the organization including representatives

from the company-based trade unions. Consequently, the manager has no absolute power toappoint his/her relatives. Thus, one may conclude that recruitment procedures are carried out

in a fair and consistent manner. Having members from several departments may serve as a

powerful control mechanism for unfair work practices. However, this doesnt mean

necessarily that the employment practices in Eritrea are perfect; instead, at least there exists a

control mechanism such as the involvement of unions and members of other departments.

In Bangladesh, the EEO is not followed by the organization as it should be. In the past, most

organization had no proper employment function. Manager or people in power used their

power in employment through nepotism and favoritism. Nowadays, things have changed a

little. Still political power or nepotism is destroying Equal Employment Opportunity. Gender

discrimination is still an issue in our organizations. Physically handicapped members aremerely counted in term of employment.

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Training & Development

Evidence shows that the Eritrean organizations seem to be less willing to allocate a specific

budget for training. Managers cite several reasons. First, in some of the firms training is

limited to a few individuals (mostly in managerial positions) due to financial constraints. One

of the biggest issues of Eritrean firms is lack of financial investment in skill formation.Second, there is a shortage of training providing institutions in Eritrea to accommodate all

training needs and it is expensive to send several employees off-the-job training abroad.

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Reference:

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/

http://www.ehow.com

http://recruitment.naukrihub.com/

http://www.businessdictionary.com

http://www.hr-guide.com

Roberts, G.E. (1998), Designing and conducting employee attitude surveys, in Condrey,

S.E. and Perry, J.L. (Eds), Handbook of Human Resource Management in Government,

Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.

Herzberg

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http://www.ehow.com/http://recruitment.naukrihub.com/http://www.businessdictionary.com/http://www.hr-guide.com/http://www.ehow.com/http://recruitment.naukrihub.com/http://www.businessdictionary.com/http://www.hr-guide.com/

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