Human Resource Management: Unmet Expectations

Introduction

Take over’s can be particularly problematic for organizations. The main issue is transiting an organization from one culture or practice to another (Wilkinson & Johnstone, 2016). As a result of the takeover of Royal Thai Hotel, there was a necessity of also incorporating charges into the organization in order to improve performance. The new general manager thought of incorporating employee empowerment as part of the strategy to move the Hotel into the next level. However, instead of improving productivity, the productivity of the organization has significantly deteriorated. This report aims at analyzing the symptoms that show the organization has serious problems.

Employee Turnover

Employee turnover refers to the number of employees who leave an organization and are replaced by new ones. Employee turnover can significantly hurt an organization through the loss of reliable employees as well as deterioration of the public image (Bratton,2012).  There are several reasons that can make employee turnover in an organization to be high. They include lack of feedback and coaching, unmet expectations, unfavorable organizational culture, lack of autonomy among others. The high employee turnover at Royal Thai hotel can be a viewed a symptom that all is not well with the organization. This can be attributed to lack of feedback and coaching as well as unmet expectations among others.

Work Related Stress

Workplace stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that happen in a situation where an employee is faced with a conflict between job demands and the ability of an employee to meet these demands successfully. Employee stress is caused by among other factors, excessive workloads, lack of autonomy, lack of sufficient skills and experience to undertake assigned tasks and poor physical environment (ChelladuraI, 2007).  The mounting of employee stress levels is a symptom of problems at the workplace. It is a signifier of the fact that the employees are not able to manage the treasure emanating from their assigned roles and responsibilities. Perhaps the main reason for this is the fact that the employees have not been adequately trained to go about their business with minimal support from the supervisors.

Frequent Consultations

Although consultations are good workplace practice, too many consultations, especially on minor issues, can be a signifier of problems at the workplace. In a situation where employees have been given autonomy to make minor decisions without involving their supervisors or the management sufficient training is needed to equip the employees with the necessary decision-making skills. Frequent consultations experienced at the organization show that there is a serious problem related to employee training (Fallon & Mcconnell, 2014). The conclusion here can be that employees have been given decision-making authority but no steps have been made to equip them with the necessary skills.

Increasing Number of Customer Complaints

Customer complaints refer to the expression of dissatisfaction by consumers about organization’s products or services. Consumers complain because of poor services quality of products and services, broken promises, poor customer service, rude staff as well as failure to listen to customers (Perkins & Arvinen, 2013).  The increase in consumer complaints is an indicator of employee detachment from the organization, low employee morale and high-stress levels among employees. Irritability among employees can also be a sign of unmet expectations by the organization.

Absenteeism

Absenteeism is a situation where an employee stays away from work without any good reason. The high employee absenteeism at the organization is a symptom of work-related problems. Some of the main causes of absenteeism among employees include accidents, bereavement, and disengagement from work, low workplace morale, illnesses and injuries as well as stress. The high absenteeism levels at the organization have been attributed to illnesses. Acute level of stress among employees is one of the causes of illnesses among employees (Sims, 2007). The high absenteeism at the workplace is, therefore, a sign of serious problems at the organization.

Strained Working Relationships

Employee working relations are very important for organizational strength. Good working relations enable employees to get support from their counterparts which enhance productivity. In normal circumstances employees are supposed to be united towards the achievement of organization goals, however, this unity of purpose is not possible in a situation where employees have strained working relationships. Strained working relationships are a symptom of organizational problems which can occur as a result of lack of necessary support as well as employee isolation (Wilkinson & Johnstone,2016).

Increased Number of Mistakes

 Increased number of mistakes among the employees is also a symptom of the serious problem at the workplace. Among the possible causes of increased mistakes at the organization include lack of necessary skills, disengagement from work as well as insufficient employee motivation(Fallon & Mcconnell, 2014).

Conclusion

Based on the above analysis, it is evident that employee empowerment adopted by the new manager was not appropriately internalized in the organization. The outcome was that instead of increasing productivity, it has deteriorated the productivity of the organization. Among the symptoms of the fact that the organization is not progressing well include the high levels of turnover, increased absenteeism, increased number of mistakes and frequent consultations on minor issues. The management should provide the necessary training to improve the decision-making ability of subordinates in order to minimize the above challenges.

Reference List

Bratton, J. (2012). Human Resource Management. Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.myilibrary.com?id=97665

ChelladuraI, P. (2007). Human resource management in sport and recreation. Leeds, Human Kinetics.

Fallon, L. F., & Mcconnell, C. R. (2014). Human resource management in health care: principles and practice, second edition. Burlington, MA, Jones & Bartlett Learning. https://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=69832.

Perkins, S. J., & Arvinen-Muondo, R. (2013). Organizational behaviour: [people, process, work and human resource management]. London, Kogan Page.

Sims, R. R. (2007). Human resource management: contemporary issues, challenges and opportunities. Greenwich, Conn, Information Age Publ. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/255443892

Wilkinson, A., & Johnstone, S. (2016). Encyclopedia of human resource management. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Pub. Ltd.