HRM issues

Communication

As discussed in (Borgardus 2004, p151) the different people that work in different organizations have needs and wants that they would like to meet as they work in those organizations. Some of the needs and wants include achieving their personal and organizational goals and objectives, being able to carry out their tasks in an independent manner, to belong to some groups within the organization, autonomy, and dominance among others. This can enable the employee to achieve satisfaction if the needs get addressed well by the organization.

In any organization there are people who have different personalities, beliefs, values among other factors that make character traits in persons. These are displayed in the manner in which each person is able to carry out the duties that he or she is assigned and how a person deals with the real life situations that exist in any social structure like an organization. The personality of individuals is assessed in the way a person is able to handle the emotional situations and the process through which they carry this (Borgardus 2004, p151).

An organization can successfully structure its communication system (Taplin 2007, p26) to enable it gain a competitive advantage over the competitors. This can be achieved when the organization involves its employees in the communication system by allowing information to flow within the organization from the management to the employees and from the employees to the management so as to be able to address the needs and wants of all the people in the organization as well as those of the organization in order to move towards a direction of achieving the common objectives. The important point in a communication system to be able to give a competitive advantage is that it can be able to achieve coordination of activities which is part of the requirements for any organization to excel in its business activities.

Communication issues

In most occasions (Taplin 2007, p26) when an organization achieves growth in its size in the market place, the communication system can get strained especially if the urgent needs of the organization do not get addressed immediately. When the organization grows in size and its operations there is need to have a system that will be able to make frequent communications to all members of the organization so as to handle the urgent needs that arise that could need to be improved for the organization to be able to achieve its objectives.

The problem areas that arise in an organization, that concern the communication aspect of the human resource management function are sometimes caused by the different perceptions that people have towards others and the organization activities within the organization. Perceptions that various individuals have tend to affect the communication process, as people will want to take what they feel is appropriate for them in different situations and will do what they feel is appropriate for them to do at any particular time in the organization. The fact that people view a given situation in different ways which will lead them to make different analysis of the situation affects how the different information contents will be interpreted by the people in the organization. In that manner the individual perceptions will hinder the passage of information that leading to disagreements arising in over what is to be considered as the right way in which things should be done ( Smith 2005, p270).

Stereotyping is another issue that affects the communication in the organization. Stereotyping is a way in which people tend to group others into certain categories to which they describe them to specific behaviors. For example people who come from a certain race, tribe or ethnic group could be perceived to very emotional and this can be used to describe all the people who come from that race even though they actually do not all have such behaviors. Stereotyping affects the way in which the activities of the organization will be carried as the people who perform different activities are not understood well by their colleagues that will affect the relationships that are within the organization leading to lack of coordination in carrying out of organizational activities (Taplin 2007, p26).

As people in the organizations belong to one or more groups that exist in an organization, their decisions and actions within the organization regarding to the different situations and tasks seem to be guided by the influence that they get from the groups. Most of the times individuals working in an organization are forced to take decisions that their group members agree to so as to maintain membership in those groups. The groups can influence people to work hard to achieve the goals of the organization and other individual’s goals though at times they have a bad influence on the people that will distract them from carrying out activities in the organization, which will affect the performance of the organization in trying to achieve its main goals of growth and profitability (Smith 2005, p270).

            In any communication process (Borgardus 2004, p151), there is a tendency of people wanting to hear what they would like to hear, whether it is good for all the people or not. This is a selective attention issue that affects most communication process by hindering the passage of the intended in formation to all the people in the organization that is aimed at making clear the description of different activities in the organization. Sometimes if the tasks that people carry out in the organization are not defined well there is likely to be situations where people will fail to carry out the tasks as required as they are not sure of what is required of them.

In addition to that, the tendency of individuals wanting to fulfill their own personal goals in the organization while ignoring the goals of the organization is another major issue of concern. Power and politics in the organization can be used by individuals in the organization to influence others in a way that will enable him or her to achieve the personal goals in the organization. In situations where those personal goals and objectives contradict the goals and objectives of an organization there are likely to be communication issues that affect all the people of the organization (Smith 2005, p270)..

How to deal with communication

In order for an organization to avoid the disadvantages that come with  the communication issues that have been discussed above, there is need to develop a positive attitude towards to all the people who work in an organization by trying to listen to their views and suggestions. The management of the organization should be able to listen to the comments that are being made about the structure of the organization. First of all the employees should be allowed to give their own personal views about the management of the organization (Smith 2005, p270).

The body language that is being used in the communication process should be controlled to a way in which only the intended information is communicated so as to avoid issues to do with perception among others. In addition to that, Individuals should be encouraged to be aware of the differences that exist within the organization so as to handle the situations in a more rational way without being emotional that can distract the way in which the activities of the organization will be conducted (Smith 2005, p270).

The communication system in an organization needs to be controlled in a way in which the channels of communication within the organization are clearly outlined so as to enable individuals to know who to report to and at the time at which they should be able to do it. When the information is given to the organizational members, there should be a way in which feedback is given so as to be able to make clear the information that has been communicated. Another important point that should be taken into account is that communication of different forms of information should be done more frequently so as to control the activities of the organization (Smith 2005, p270).

To improve on the communication system, both the formal and non formal means of communication should be used to communicate information within the organization. This is because not all the information can be communicated clearly using only one form of communication. This will ensure that the individuals get focused to the goals and objectives of the organization and work towards achieving them by using the resources that the organization has provided (Borgardus 2004, p151).

The tasks that individuals carry out in an organization needs to be well described to avoid conflicts that arise from the roles that people need to perform in various tasks in the organization. Expand the communication systems to other parties outside the organization like the customers, suppliers and many others that can enable the organization to strengthen the relationships that exist within the organization and to outside parties to enable the organization to focus on its goals and objectives (Smith 2005, p270).

Employee benefits

An organization will be able to attract and keep its employees for a long period of time if it is able to motivate its employees to carry out their duties and responsibilities. One of the ways that is being used in most organization is providing employees with other benefits besides the usual salary that they receive from their jobs. To be able to address the various benefits that employees expect the organization to provide them an organization will need to understand the different goals and objectives that individuals have to in wanting to satisfy their own needs as they work in an organization. After understanding this organization should be able to come up with ways in which the needs can be met (Jackson et al 2003, p274).

Some of the employee benefits include the pension benefits, flexible benefits like charges given for working overtime, insurance policies for all the employees of an organization, educating the employees on various issues in the workplaces, medical cover schemes and retirement pensions among many other plans that an organization will establish to take care of the welfare of the employees of the organization so as to improve their work performance (Armstrong 2006, p660-700).

Employee benefit issues that arise in an organizational setting relate to the compensation that should be provided to individuals that will be able to satisfy their basic needs and wants as the economic conditions keep changing every now and again. Such benefits should be able to act as a tool that will keep the employees within a given organization as other organization could come up with ways of taking away the employees of an organization that an organization has spent much of its resources to train and develop so as to get high levels of performance(Armstrong 2006, p660-700).

            To be able to deal with such issues an organization  should be able to come up with a wide variety of benefits that it can use to attract and retain its employees who will be able to work for the benefit of the organization in achieving its numerous goals and objectives (Armstrong 2006, p660-700)..

Training and development

As discussed in ( Smith 2005, 241) when an organization trains its employees it empowers them to carry out their duties and tasks in the organization in an efficient and effective way so as to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. This is made possible because they will be able to produce high levels of production yields that are of high quality to meet the needs of the customers in the market. The training programs of an organization will enable the individuals to improve on their skills; knowledge and experience in carrying various tasks within an organization and in that way develop the individuals to perform their duties well.

The training aspect of an organization can also enable it to acquire employees who are more qualified to carry out carious organizational duties. This is because employees would be more comfortable to work for organizations that will enable them to perform different tasks which will in return produce high and quality production for the organization. The most important point that an organization should be able to consider when offering the training and development programs is that the programs should be made available to all the individuals in the organization and it should be able to offer them the level of support that is needed to have successive employees’ development (Berman et al 2005, p219-241).

As discussed in (Berman et al 2005, p219-241) various methods and strategies are used in different organizations to carry out the training and development programs for the employees. For example a job promotion can enable an individual to gather a wide variety of experiences and skills in carrying out various tasks that have different job descriptions and contents. So as to enable individuals to gather a variety of experiences, the promotions can be made upwards or sideways in the organizational hierarchy.

Issues in training and development

In some cases the employees whom the organization has trained and developed in their various careers can leave the organization which makes the organization to lose a lot considering the amount of resources that has been invested to develop such individuals. This kills the morale of the organization in the effective management of human resources as once they have been developed they will cause problems for the organization. Though the organization may be able to offer training programs to its employees, sometimes the employees are not given enough time to go through such programs so as to achieve the change that the organization intends to get from the training programs (Pinnington et al 2007, p87-120).

In some other cases, the training programs of employees may be focused to the employees that are high up the organizational hierarchy while ignoring the others at the support level. This will affect the production levels of an organization because if some employees are isolated from the performance of the organization and yet their performance forms a crucial part of general organizational performance, the activities of the organization will fail to achieve coordination to achieve the best results(Berman et al 2005, p219-241).

How to deal with training and development issues

When such like issues happen in an organizational setting, there ids need for the organization to review on its training programs by ensuring that they become part of the strategic plans of an organization in which the organization will set aside resources that will be used to accomplish the goals and objectives of the organization. this will be the best way in which the organization can be able to actualize its training programs as it strives to achieve its many goals and objectives among them profitability and customer satisfaction (Pinnington et al 2007, p87-120).

(Berman et al 2005, p219-241) argues that the organization will also need to train all its employees by designing training programs that will suit the different levels of the organizational hierarchy. This should be carried out whenever the organization discovers an urgent need to train its employees in carrying out different tasks in the organization. In addition to that, the organization should be able to carry a critical analysis of the performance of individuals in the organization so as to be able come up with the areas that need special skills and the employees that can be used to carry out the tasks after a training session.

Performance management

As discussed in (Armstrong 2006, p667-680) an organization will use the performance management aspect as tool for improving the job performance of the employees in the organization so as to achieve total high quality for its goods and services that will meet the needs and wants of the customers in the marketplace. Performance management can be carried out in such a way that it can be used to reward the performance of individuals in their various tasks that they carry in an organization. The rewards include both positive and negative reward depending on the level of performance that an individual is able to achieve.

In performance management various factors are analyzed that relate to the performance of individuals in various tasks. Such factors comprise the skills and experience, the job content among other factors. As discussed in (Armstrong 2006, p660) a good performance management program should be able to cover all the levels of the organization so as to be able to identify the weak and strong areas of the organization. In addition to that the performance appraisal program should be able to assess the job that is being performed instead of assess the individuals that carry those jobs because of the subjectivity that is likely to be involved in evaluating the persons.

(Bratton and Gold 2001, p257) argues that performance appraisal factors like skills, experience and job characteristics need to evaluated well enough so as to enable an organization to take actions on how to help the employees to carry out various tasks especially by designing training programs that will address the areas that employees need assistance to carry out the assigned task.

Performance management issues

Some of the issues (Armstrong 2000, p232) that are involved in most performance management programs involve the rigidity of people in adopting the changes that have been recommended to improve on the performance standards of the individuals. In most cases individuals will tend to think that the usual way in which they carry out the different activities of the organization is the best way out and so the other changes that are being recommended might not work out well to give the required standards (Bratton and Gold 2001, p257).

The employees are likely to loose trust for their managers especially if they get biased in analyzing the work performance of individuals and then keep on defending some specific set of individuals when rewards are being given. This is to deal with the issue of subjectivity of the whole process w1hich may harm the performance level of the organization because the individuals will feel discriminated in the activities of the organization (Domsch and Hristozova 2006, p97).

Some of the techniques that are used in carrying out performance management programs are not able to cover all the areas of the organization that have a major effect on the performance of the individuals in the organization. The reason for this could be because the organization does not wish to get too much involved in the process of performance management especially in cases where the organization finds it difficult to communicate the results to the employees(Armstrong 2006, p660-680).

How to improve the performance appraisal issues

All the functions of the organization (Beaumont 1993, p74) should be focused on when performance management programs are being carried out so as to come up with a comprehensive report of the performance of the organization as far as the employees are concerned. Such a comprehensive report will enable the organization to come up with specific and alternative solutions that they can use to improve on the performance of individuals in the organization. Especially in cases where the major factors that influence the performance standards are focused on, the organization should be able to help the individuals to develop resource management skills, gain more knowledge on the various processes of production of goods and services among other ways of building competence (Bratton and Gold 2001, p257).

While conducting the performance management programs the organization should be able to maintain a clear focus on the main objectives and goals of the organization as a way of critically evaluating the performance of individuals in their various jobs that they hold in the organization (Armstrong 2006, p660-700)..

By focusing on the goals and objectives of the organization the management of the organization will be able to avoid the biasness that can arise if individuals were to be analyzed in the way that they carry out their various tasks which will not form a good basis upon which an organization will evaluate the individuals. When the organization focuses on its goals it will be able to set goals that are realistic without involving the feelings and attitude of individuals towards others in the organization (Jackson et al 2003, p274).

Another point (Bratton and Gold 2001, p257)  that the organization should be able to bear in mind especially concerning the management of human resources in the organization is that the all the performance management exercises should be carried out on a regular basis so as to keep tract of the performance of the individuals in various tasks and the improvements that are making so as to make the process of rewarding their performance to be just and equitable which will in return motivate them to carry out the activities of the organization that Are focused on high quality that will create value to the customers.

The results of a performance management program (Sims 2006, p253) should be communicated to all the individuals that are concerned so as to enable the organization to find ways in which to deal with the resistance to change that it will face in trying to implement some of the recommendations that have been made to improve on the performance standards of the individuals (Bratton and Gold 2001, p257).

As a way to improve the modern technology the organization should be able to apply the technological tools in evaluating the employees of the organization. Most modern technological techniques like the computer aided performance appraisal tool is less subjected to the effects of subjective analysis which affects the quality of the human resource management practices (Steingold and Schroeder 2007, p139).

Human resource planning

Human resource planning (Bratton and Gold 2001, p165-187) involves the development of various policies that concern the welfare of employees in an organization. The major issues that are concerned with this arte are that in most occasions organizations develop plans that are not realistic in nature as they tend to be set a distance further from the individuals that they are supposed to help in running the organization in a most effective and efficient manner.

Sometimes the organization will dedicate less time in planning for the policies that concern the welfare of the individuals in an organization. This could be because the process requires serious commitments on the part of the organization which the organization is not ready too make at any one time as it carries on its business activities (Schuler 2004, p119) and ( Hendry 1995, 189).

There are situations (Amos et al 2009, p89) whereby the organization has limited access to the information that is requires to make the various human resource policies. This can result from the poor methods that are used to get the information on the different policies that the organization wants to establish for its human resources. Finally the organization can fail to set the appropriate priorities in establishing the policies for the organization leading to a situation where the organization fails to evaluate the very important plans for the organization.

How to deal with the issues in Human resource planning

The planning process should be a continuous activity that an organization needs to carry out in establishing the human resource policies for the organization. If the process is done o9n a continuous basis the organization will be able to set its priorities right (Saiyadain 2003, p51).

Employee Relations

The way in which the various conflicts that arise within an organization are being handled will determine e the relationships that will be created between the individuals that will influence the bonds that are created while carrying out various tasks within an organization (Losey et al 2005, p357).

Issues that relate to employee relation are firing of employees when they fail to conduct themselves as the organization would like them to behave. In some cases the organization will prevent the employees from joining labour unions as they feel threatened by the actions that such unions will take against them when it comes to defending the rights of the employees of the organization (Armstrong 2003, p361).

In order to deal with the issues that result from conflicts in an organization (Clark1993, p43), the organization needs to design an efficient communication system that will allow for free flow of information between the management and other employees

The employees can also be allowed to join labor unions so as to enable them get their rights within the organization.

Conclusion

An organization needs to consider all these issues among others when it is designing programs and plans for the management of human resources that will enable it to have a strong advantage in the business environment over its competitors. Carrying out a regular analysis of the organization and the employee is the best strategy that the organization can use to be able to come up with the various issues that it is experiencing with its human resources.

As a way of improving on the performance of the organization, the management will need to effectively implement all the recommendations that are made by the consulting agency by involving all the employees. Afterwards the feedback should be given to the concerned partied that will enable comparisons to be made as to the levels to which compliance has been achieved

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