Strategic HRM Essay For PAC Resources.

To apply accumulated human resource management knowledge attained from the human resource management major to address a workplace scenario and provide workable solutions and recommendations.

HR managers, like most managers have full and busy working lives! As a HR manager, you have been presented with an issue that needs to be addressed. Due to the diversity of your role as a HR manager and being extremely time poor, you need to call on your team to bring together the information relevant to the issue and suggest potential recommendations . With the information in hand, you, as the HR manager need to write an individual report to present to the CEO of the company to sell the proposed recommendations and solutions.

Strategic Human Resource Management

The strategic human resource management is one of the major aspect of managing human resources centred on the implementation of strategies for successfully managing the human resources and at the same time, facilitate business performance for aiming to gain competitive advantage and higher revenue generation too. There have been currently some issues that are associated with the human resource management at PAC Resources and it will be beneficial for resolving the issues as soon as possible for managing business expansion along with effective cost containment and reduction of staffs too. PAC resources is one of the organisation that has been one of the victims of inappropriate human resource management, which not only has affected the overall business culture, but also has created com0elxities for the HR department, furthermore contributing to the poor staffs’ management and formation of an inappropriate culture within the organisation’s workplace (Bailey et al. 2018). The topic will also present the recommended solutions that can allow PAC Resources to overcome the issues and achieve flexibility, form an appropriate culture and improve the business performance and effectiveness too. The strategic human resource management enables formation of a link between the management of human resources inclined with the strategies, goals and objectives required to manage flexibility, innovation and gain competitive advantage in business as well as develop a fit for purpose organisational culture at PAC Resources (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). The report will present an idea about the major issues faced by the company during the management of human resources and how can it be resolved with the possible recommended solutions to achieve heights of success in business.

The human resource management strategies are inclined with the strategic goals, objectives and structure to make sure that the right organisational policies and procedures are created and implemented. The strategic human resource management also includes various business activities such as recruitment, selection, training provided to employees for improving their skills and knowledge along with providing rewards to them for keeping them motivated and encouraged all throughput (Alfes et al. 2013). To ensure an effective strategic human resource management, the human resources have played a major role in acting as a strategic partner to form company policies and manage the recruitment, training and rewarding processes with ease and effectiveness (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang 2014). The HR personnel needs to adopt an effective strategic approach for selecting and retaining the employees for fulfilling the standards of recruitment and selection at the organization based upon the company policies, furthermore implement long term plans for accomplishing the business goals and objectives with efficiency.  

The importance of strategic HRM is that it can allow the companies to work together by forming teams aiming towards a shared vision and objectives. The strategic HR olds the responsibility of analysing the employees and determine the actions that are needed to enhance the value creation, furthermore use the analysis results for developing useful HR techniques to address and resolve weaknesses of employees furthermore (Marler and Fisher 2013). This would lead to higher job satisfaction along with the formation of an effective culture and better customers’ services delivery too for creating satisfaction among them, thus leading to a proactive approach to manage employees and enhance the production level too. The major steps that are needed to be followed by PAC Resources to ensure effective strategic HRM include developing an understanding of the business goals and objectives, evaluating the capability of HR, analysing the present capacity of HR based upon the goals, determining the future HR requirements of the organisation, analyse the tools required to enhance employee performance, implement the human resource management strategy and finally evaluate and undertake corrective actions (Kramar 2014).

Workplace Scenario

PAC Resources is a small sized organisation that focuses on delivering specialised components to the computer industry and it is run by David Dukakis. The quality of products and services is good considering its fulfilment of ISO quality certification according to the International Organisation of Standardisation. Most of the sales revenue are generated from the development of original speciality components for one of the major manufacturers in US (Budhwar and Debrah 2013). The company aimed at the management of hiring freeze and thus the sales budget and marketing are focused on increasing the customer base largely while on the other hand, it was found that the employees were nervous. There were situations related to the unrest of employees and poor management of human resources due to the implementation of poor policies and procedures associated with the change in job conditions and regarding the employee movement within the organisation (Alfes et al. 2013). The company possessed a good public relations management, though a letter representing the company flaws and poor management was provided by an employee of the organisation to the editor of a local newspaper. For addressing the concerns of employees, even a program named “Talk-to-the-boss” was initiated for making the employees address their issues to the higher level of management without fear of getting any penalty. The management of training sessions for the employees along with the reorganising of lower level supervisory positions further contributed to the addressing of these kinds of issues associated with the strategic management of human resources (Purce 2014).

From various evidences in the case study, it could be understood the main faults arose when Patricia Harris was the HR Director of PAC Resources. The management of employees’ style that was followed by her was different and ineffective while her favourite persons at the workplace were provided with the most benefits like perks and other non-monetary benefits too. She was unfair and discriminating towards other employees (Nankervis et al. 2016). There was also a bonus plan that should have presented each and every employees’ performance goals on an annual basis and it was set by Patricia only, rather than what the employees should have set for achievement (Sikora and Ferris 2014). It create misunderstanding and conflicts among the people and this resulted in perceived inequity. It was also found that the benefits coordinator of PAC Resources named Kathy Davis managed the employees only present within her department properly and they were not much focused on the accomplishment of a project, still they were paid high amount of wages and bonuses every year. The employees within the HR department felt that the management did not provide enough support, which was one of the major causes of poor feedbacks and opinions regarding the movement towards organisational goals and objectives (Bratton and Gold 2017). There were biased situations, which further contributed to the animosity and poor cooperation among employees at the functional areas within the workplace. There was communication issue too, due to which bridging the gap between employees and influencing collaborative exchange was difficult, which hindered the successful management of research and development along with poor manufacturing, production and engineering processes associated with the management of strategies and human resources at PAC Resources (Nankervis et al. 2016).

HR Issues

The company has been facing several issues such as lack of human resource management like poor staff management and also inappropriate organisational culture. The staffing department was known mostly for its aggressive hiring and there were no such active plans for a layoff, because it was believed that the layoff could result in damaging the business’ reputation and create issues for the growth in economy as well. The compensation system at PAC Resources was effective, until it was re-structured by banding 14 grade levels of paying wages (Brewster 2017). This was opposed by many because it made loss of various levels of promotions and also resulted in manipulating the entire system. There was discrimination as well, due to which, few of the favourites were paid with rewards and other benefits without considering their actual performance and longevity as well. Another major issue was the employee benefits, which turned out to be more expensive over time and this created every packages to get enquired for cost efficiency (Hoque 2013). A whole health coverage was paid earlier by PAC till the year 2006 to the full time employees and soon after that the increase in double digit premium resulted in making necessary changes all throughout.

Steve Wilson found it difficult to cope up with the pressure of managing good employee relations and there were several union issues as well, which made him believe that once employees become dissatisfied and concerned with these kinds of matters, those mind sets never go away and they tend to provide negative opinions every time something would be done for their benefit while working at the organisation (Kehoe and Wright 2013). Based on the case study, it could also be understood that there are issues associated with the unionisation and it could also result in cutting of costs furthermore. The company wanted to remain free from unionisation and maintained freedom of association as well, which further created complexities related to the compensation structure (Messersmith and Wales 2013). A survey was conducted as well to evaluate the performance and feedbacks from employees, which showed the utilisation of skip level interviews that allowed the workers of the organisation to raise issues two levels up. It was allowed for the employees to raise their concerns and state about the issues to the leader of bosses of the organisation, which also created a stir among the managers and higher management level people. They felt threatened with the responses of the candidates who might provide some negative views and opinions about them to the higher authority and this could even result in making unfavourable decisions made by the higher management (Albrecht et al. 2015).

As stated previously in the case study, there was communication issue, which was a major cause of the business decline. Albrecht et al. (2015) stated that based on the Harvard Analytical framework for HRM there are various aspects like the stakeholders’ interests that are necessary to be communicated and included in the organisational policies whereas the HRM policies would include influencing the employees and managing proper rewards systems to enhance the efficiency of workforce of PAC. He better the communication will be, the better will be the HR outcomes such as cost effectiveness, high level of commitment of employees and furthermore allow the workers to engage themselves together in working towards a shared vision (Brewster et al. 2016). The long term consequences include employee wellbeing and safety, social wellbeing and the situational factors are the characteristics of workforce, labour market unions and managing proper social values and ethics to ensure successful business functioning.

         Figure: Harvard analytical framework for human resource management (Brewster et al. 2016)

The Universalistic theory is another effective HRM theory that defines various w0rk practices and then selects the best and most suitable practice that can result in delivering high performance and at the same time, manage linear relationship between the HRM practices and business performance. The best practices are to be accepted by each and every one working at the organisation and it is also necessary to make sure that the success of the company is measured according to the performance of employees and business along with how well they have been communicating and engaging with each other to work as a dedicated workforce and team aiming to accomplish the business goals and objectives with convenience (Sheehan 2014).

There is also contingency theory that considers the size and nature of company, its age, technologies used and assets owned along with the capital intensity and level of unionisation, helping to maintain consistent connection between the variables. The organisational issues were mainly about the poor implementation of organisational policies and procedure and lack of proper communication process, because of which, there was poor fit for purpose and thus the company needs to follow the contingency theory for determining the need to achieve the most suitable or best fit between what the organisation currently is and what it wants to achieve in the culture. This will though consider the organisational structure, maintenance of a positive work culture along with the external environment based on which, the performance of the organisation and its operations and processes will be determined as well (Marchington et al. 2016).

Based on the case study, the workers were unsatisfied with the amount of wages paid to them while few of them were paid higher because of good relationship with the higher management regardless of the amount of efforts that they have put in for enhancing the business performance. According to Delery and Roumpi (2017), there are various ways and approaches that are responsible for keeping the workers of the organisation named PAC Resources motivated and encouraged and make them commit themselves fully to the achievement of business goals and objectives with ease and effectiveness (Delery and Roumpi 2017). The hierarchy of needs theory by Maslow has represented the various sources of human motivation and how it can affect the way the employees are influenced and engaged together to become a part of the organisation and commit themselves fully. There are various needs at different levels and it is necessary to fulfil the needs at first and then proceed on to the next stage where the other needs are required to be fulfilled. The physiological needs form the foundation of human motivation where the basic needs are met such as the need for food, shelter and then safety needs where they could feel secure working at the organisation (Hohenstein, Feisel and Hartmann 2014). The job security fall in the safety needs, while the love and sense of belonging appears with the recognition within the workplace, better communication with the colleagues and friends and creating strong relationships to get a job well done. The self-actualisation needs are fulfilled when the employees of PAC Resources would feel that they have gained achievement and this further enhances the level of confidence and allow focus on high performance goals with ease (Stone and Dulebohn 2013).

From the case study, it could be clearly understood that there had been several issues such as poor communication within the workplace, providing benefits to few of them specially and thus all the employees are not treated equally and there had also been poor management of staffs, which has resulted in misinterpretation of sales into the accounting system. This has further contributed to the poor performance of the business and resulted in sales decline along with improper human resource management (Paillé et al. 2014). Thus, PAC Resources, needs to immediately enable proper strategic human resource management for ensuring that the communication process of management wisely and cautiously to ensure successful management of issues and improved business functioning. To resolve the issues associated with the misinterpretation of sales data and records, it is important to manage the accounting for all the bonuses that are being paid to the staffs associated with the sales management (Purce 2014). The extra bonus i.e., the amount of money that has been used for the fictitious orders should be returned to the organisation immediately. It is also to be noted that the forecast of staffing is purely dependent on the numbers of sales and the company should keep abundant labour supply to meet the demands in the market and ensure that the hiring freeze is sufficient and noteworthy. A hiring freeze would be beneficial for designing a comprehensive plan for the reduction of costs of labour and ensure making finalised decisions for benefiting the business (Gupta and Shaw 2014).

With the sales decline, further problems might arise such as the reduction in staffing expenditures because of the inability to reduce the costs of labour due to the hiring freeze. It should be essential to develop the inventory of stockpile with sales, which could restore the health of the company and also reflect the actual quality of work that has been performed by the organisation to sustain in the difficult times with much ease and efficiency. Putting more stress on a single customer can often be difficult for the management team of PAC Resources and thus the hiring freeze is to be enabled for directing the sales and marketing budget and ensure increase in customer base (Hood, Hardy Jr and Simpson 2016). There had also been poor wages distribution, which was one of the major flaws associated with the management of strategic human resources. Due to this, there were further issues such as poor management, poor implementation and enforcement of policies and unfair practices related to the changes in job conditions and movement of employees within the organisation. To deal with this kind of issues, the recommended solution could be the initiation of “Talk to the Boss” program, which should allow the employees to bring their concerns and complaints regarding the poor management to the higher authorities of the organisation (Yamoah 2013). This should be listened carefully and responsibly by the management department to take necessary actions such as management training and to reorganise the lower level supervisory positions within the organisation.

A merit bonus plan could be implemented to create an effective workforce and enhance the effectiveness of HR department, furthermore lead to treat each and every employees equally and prevent any kinds of hard feelings and sense of inequity among employees, which might even de-motivate them to perform to their potential (Bengtsson and Hand 2013). One of the most important things to be considered is the support from management and also keeping track of the feedbacks and opinions regarding the progress towards the accomplishment of business goals and objectives. Maintaining proper safety checks and monitoring the health and wellbeing of employees is essential too for increasing the wellness activities, furthermore ensure that the HR department conducts its responsibilities properly considering the safety procedures, sexual harassment and discrimination within the workplace as well (Bryant and Allen 2013). The training and developmental needs must be understood and the  proper educational training should be provided to both the employees as well as the HR personnel to ensure that the skills and knowledge of employees are improved along with betterment of human resources’’ management practices for keeping up pace with the changes managed within the organisation as well. The process of strategic planning is also considered as an effective solution that can manage the knowledge identified as a major area that needs to be improved not only for the purpose of research and development activities, but also for the encouragement of meetings and communication process for facilitating the development of relationships (Šiký? 2013). This would not only improve the processes of recruitment and selection of employees at PAC Resources, but would also generate a positive exchange during the exit interviews, furthermore contribute to the passing and exchange of information among the employees of the workplace with ease and effectiveness (Terera and Ngirande 2014).

The active wellness program could also contribute the management of health and safety standards revolving around the wellbeing of employees, furthermore allow PAC Resources to conduct health survey on an annual basis. This would include health risk assessment and provide the employees with free medicines and even make them knowledgeable about the smoking cessation programs through the management of an employee assistance program. The aggressive hiring is an effective way to boost business performance with the creation of better scopes and opportunities for the employees to get in, furthermore ensure formation of new job postings along with the organisation’s job portal website (Lister 2013). This should ensure equity in hiring and at the same time manage effective job placement opportunities to provide equal opportunities to everyone rather than treating few of them as superior to others within the workplace.

The manager do hold enough roles and responsibilities to manage people and focus on the planning, coordination, supervision and motivation of people. But for that, the manager of PAC Resources needs to monitor their skills, knowledge and performance on a monthly basis for understanding their potential, otherwise the poor staffs management could lead to lower morale and reduced production level too. The HR manager must be aware of the resources, talents and goals, furthermore ensure that the management of staffs is done in such a way that positive relationships are established along with the way of working and leading a proper team is understood (Chemmanur, Cheng and Zhang 2013). This would also hold the employees and managers of the organisation accountable for accomplishing what they would be going to do.

• The major things that are to be considered while managing staffs properly are to develop string relationships with them and treating everyone equally and especially based on their performances.
• It is recommended to manage flexibility in improving the management of staffs, which shall be possible with the development of a scheduled time where the manager could consult with the employees and obtain their feedbacks and opinions. Their personal strengths would be understood along with their talents and knowledge, which should be beneficial for related to them and manage the contributions that they did for the company.
• A proper leadership is required for managing people and lead them by setting examples, furthermore create various rules to set some standards that are needed to be maintained.
• It is recommended to conduct meetings and events on time and even sometimes early for managing the obligations properly, furthermore respect the time and ensure that the employees’ health and wellbeing are taken care of properly
• Demonstration of integrity is recommended as well for remaining honest and trustworthy and make sure to communicate about the organisational policies and procedures with the employees for ensuring positive mind sets among employees within the workplace
• Communicating the expectations clearly and appropriately with the management of proper performance standards is recommended as well for improving the management of staffs with much ease and efficiency
• The goals and objectives should be clearly communicated with the staffs with consistent check on the sales report and conducting sales forecast to understand the areas where changes should be done
• The adjustment of management style is essential in case it is not working properly to bring the best performance results
• The manager or leader must listen to employees’ queries and provide them with necessary benefits and rewards for keeping them encouraged and motivated, furthermore ensure successful management of a team and improved business outcomes.

Conclusion

The report illustrated about the strategic management of human resources considering the business organisation named PAC Resources and how there were various issues associated with the management of human resources within the organisation’s workplace. There were evidences regarding poor management of staffs, lack of staff management properly and even poor organizational structure and culture, which further contributed to the lack of flexibility, innovation and poor ability to gain competitive advantage in business as well. There were other issues as well such as poor communication, which created complexities in providing necessary information about the policies and procedures, furthermore contributed to the creation of unrest conditions that needed to be resolved for successfully managing the human resources and for ensuring formation of a good culture and managing good brand reputation with ease and effectiveness. There were unionisation issues and also the sales revenue dipped to a large extent.  The most favourite persons were awarded with the most amount of wages irrespective of their performances and this created a stir among the employees, which caused negative responses as well as damaged the proper functioning of the workplace and staff management department. There were various theories as well such as the Universalistic theory and contingency theory that contributed to the maintenance of proper connection between the policies and organisational structure and culture, thereby should be essential to fulfil the needs of employees and make them perform to their potential as well.

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