HRM:Organisational Development & Best Practices in Evaluating Staff Performance

8/8/2019 HRM:Organisational Development & Best Practices in Evaluating Staff Performance

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CONTENTS

Introduction 2

Tackling Attrition & Maintaining

Performance consistency 2

Competency based HRM

Recruitment Procedures 3

Reflection of Personal Experience

Over Staffing & its consequences

Role of Motivation

Evaluation of best practices 4

Diversity Management

Absence Management

Work- life balance

Staff Retention & curbing poaching 5

Summary 6


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Evaluation of Best Practices in managing Staff for organizational

development

In todays dynamic environment of cut throat competition, it is very essential that

the organizations do their best to manage their resources. Organizations are adopting

newer ways of improving efficiency and reducing wastage. Employees play a vital role

in the development of any organization and therefore a lot of attention is being paid on

Human Resource Development. A large number of inputs in the forms of trainings,

workshops, seminars, empowerment etc. are being introduced at entry level onwards to

make sure that the company makes maximum utilization of its resources to reap desired

benefits. Even though technology has developed significantly in the past decade,

human intervention has always been necessary. This has brought the organizations

staff to the centre of attention.

In this regard, organizations have come up with their own sets of best practices.

These are usually processes that are followed within the work place that are unique to

the organization and help in the overall efficiency and effectiveness of an operation. In

most cases these best practices are based on past experiences and are designed to get

maximum benefits from the employees. Best Practices however, are different for

different organizations and therefore is not the same for all. The areas that affect

consistency in performance are: lack of motivation, recruitment procedures, identifying

training needs, managing diversity, absence management, over staffing, lack of

communication & control, Job insecurities, inappropriate job placements etc.

The Human Resource Departments, in an effort to tackle the issues of attrition

have turned towards Competency based Human Resource Management. This form of

approach pays more attention towards performance based on competency and as a

result follows a particular standard whereby the hiring process, staff retention, rewards,

training & development of employees are improved to a great extent. Competency

based HRM is broken down into Behavioral competency & Technical competency

(Armstrong 2010, pp. 160- 161).

Behavioral competency helps in the recruitment process by identifying the key

attributes that exist within the candidate which might be suited for the job and ultimately

go on to achieve desired outcomes or benefits for the company. Technical

competencies are concerned with the ability of the person to do a job in keeping with

the companys expectations. The person is expected to do what is required of him and

do it competently. In this case the company seeks attributes that are recommended for

the prospective job to be undertaken. This ensures that the employee is posted at a job

for which he is best suited and therefore consistency and productivity are maintained.


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The Recruitment procedure should be in line with the companys man power

requirement. The screening process should be fair and focus on areas such as

educational qualifications, work experience, ability to work in a team and ability to

handle stress & other soft skills that would benefit the organization in the future. High

levels of Motivation can also lead to better & consistent performance. Problems such as

over staffing lead to low sense of achievement as the job is now distributed and there is

very little for employees to contribute. Job Insecurities arising out of competition,

external financial situations such as the recent recession etc could add on to the attrition

rate &/or low morale. The HR should maintain constant communication with the first line

& middle managers to identify wastage of resources. [Drucker (1986) p.307]

The Sheraton Hotels & Resorts in Abu Dhabi, where I worked, for instance relied

mostly on internal recruitment. Existing employees were given incentives for referrals.

On the one hand, it saved the Hotel the cost of advertising, but on the other hand the

screening process during the interview was very informal and no in depth analysis was

performed. The Sheraton paid more attention towards the candidates appearance &

their ability to communicate, regardless of their educational background or past

experience. In other words it could also be termed as Nepotism, as the jobs were

handed out based on the source of the reference and not because of personal merit or

skills. As a result, people with no relevant work experience or academic background

ended up working with those who did, sparking dissatisfaction and negating the theory

of equity. This kind of practice definitely affects consistency in performance.

In comparison, The Oberoi Group of Hotel in India, hired Hotel Management

graduates as a rule. The screening process was layered, involving interviews with the

HR, the middle manager, the General Manager, group discussions & written tests. This

ensured that, only the most suitable candidates were employed and helped identify the

best roles to be handed out. The Hotel Management background of the candidates

ensured that the training needs were not as high as that of Sheraton, thus saving them

a lot of time, effort & money. Appraisals can help increase the consistency of

performance by identifying the training needs of the employee & increasing productivity

at work.

Appraisals were performed in both Sheraton & the Oberoi and this helped in

identifying the areas that needed development. These were conducted by a one to one

interview with the Manager on a yearly basis. The appraisal at Sheraton was more

backward looking and identified the areas that were well managed or not so, based on

performance. The appraisal at the Oberoi was more forward looking as, in addition to

identifying the key review areas, it also listed a set of tasks or objectives to be achieved

until the next appraisal session.


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The Organizations should also be able to manage diversity effectively in order to

promote a feeling of belonging. Diversity could range from country, culture, languages,

religion, behavior etc. These traits should be identified & worked upon for the benefit of

both the organization and the employee as it could help boost employee morale and

productivity. For Instance the Sheraton staff cafeteria provided food from different

cuisines to cater to the eating habits of international employees. Managing Diversity

effectively could also indirectly reduce absenteeism by creating a favorable environment

for the employees. The Managers should pay particular attention to Parochialism &

Ethnocentrism & be flexible enough to accommodate different views in a multicultural

workforce. (Schermerhorn et al, 2002)

Absenteeism costs organizations a lot of money as they have to pay for the

employees treatment either as sick pay or by providing medical attention or insurance.

As per survey conducted by CIPD, an average of 9 working days was missed due to

absenteeism. Absenteeism could be caused due to various reasons ranging from

stress, monotonous work routine, quality of management, age, gender, uncertain

working hours/shifts, duration of travel to work place, dissatisfaction with working

conditions etc. Lack of unforeseen man power adds on to the work load of those

present and hence consistency in performance would be affected indirectly.

Most absenteeism cases are genuine and the organization should be actively

involved and communicate with the person concerned. The Sheraton provided all of its

employees with Insurance cards which would be accepted at selected Hospitals (in

contract with medical insurance companies). The company covered 75% of the cost of

treatment each time & the employee had to put in the rest. They also provided sick pay,

which might actually increase the level of absenteeism. However they also had

disciplinary actions in place which were consistent and appropriately used.

The Oberoi would send sick meals to the employees residence through a

representative of the HR. In this way, they could actually evaluate the circumstance of

absence as well as promote a feeling of being looked after, adding on to the level of

satisfaction. In addition to this the ground rules for absenteeism required that the

employee inform his/her immediate supervisor and also furnish a medical report upon

rejoining work. These protocols when rigorously followed make it difficult for employees

to skip work out of no apparent reasons.

Organizations are also paying much attention to the employees Work- Life

Balance & assuming a flexible approach towards the same. Most companies have now

adopted most of these measures: financial aid & emergency leaves, provision to work

reduced hours or part time work, compassionate leave, maternity leaves, self rostering,

working from home, exchanging shifts or day offs, compensating extra hours of work

through over- time pay/time off in lieu etc. These measures are particularly beneficial for


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those employees who manage a family as parents, or those undergoing higher

education. Surveys conducted by Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) signify that

adopting measures such as those mentioned, have been useful in improving employee

morale, reducing absenteeism & stress, increasing efficiency and productivity and

generating an environment of trust within the work place.

Retaining the employees the organization has invested in is one of the biggest

challenges that organizations face. In most cases, employees are often poached by

the competitors. It is therefore essential to constantly seek feedback from the

employees and act upon them. Following Best Practices in tandem with change

management to ensure maximum levels of satisfaction is essential. The employees may

wish to work for the competitors for a number of reasons such as, better pay packages

and added benefits. After spending money on the employees training & development,

its only fair that the organizations do their best to retain them.

Consistency in performance would definitely suffer as the Organization has toonce again go through the stages of recruitment & training in order to replace the

previous employee. Employee poaching might turn out to be costlier than expected as

the employee might have confidential information that the rival companies might use for

unfair competitive advantage. The employee may have developed particular job skills

that were contributing a great deal towards the work output. Organizations are therefore

coming out with newer practices such as staff outings, office parties, birthday

celebrations etc to induce a feeling of being a part of the same family. The Oberoi &

Sheraton both had Staff excursions planned every year where all expenses were taken

care of by the Hotel. The employees were also allowed to bring in their family along with

them.

The Sheraton Hotel, signed two year contracts with employees and if they were

to be terminated, the employer would have to pay the cost of the VISA charges incurred

by the Hotel. This was an effective strategy as the penalty of terminating the contract

would be equivalent to almost two months salary & therefore, the employees would

have to consider their decisions carefully. The company also had the authority to ban

the employees from UAE for 6 months based on the UAE labor laws. The contracts also

specifically mention that following the termination of contract, the former employee may

not work with a company in the same sector. Even though, this might not be considered

a desirable strategy to tackle issues of retention, it was effective enough to increase the

staff retention period.


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Managing staff in 2010 is indeed a very big challenge that magnifies with the

scale of the operation. It is important to identify the needs of the employees to keep

them satisfied and help them to achieve what the company desires of them.

Training needs must be met and updating existing skills to avoid risk of becoming

obsolete is important. Proper job placements ensure that the employees know what isexpected of them and therefore the performance could be consistent. The

Organizations should hand out targets that are achievable & not be over ambitious as it

will only add pressure on the employees to perform, but may not necessarily yield

desired benefits. This might as well be the difference between a company doing well &

a company doing exceptionally well.

Many employees quit their jobs in search of better future prospects in terms of

career advancement & lack of promotions even after spending considerable amounts of

time with an Organization. The ability of the organizations to utilize the appraisals &

feedback models such as the 360 & actually work on them for mutual benefits of theemployee as well as the organization is of utmost significance. Acknowledging the staffs

work is also important in increasing morale & productivity thereof.


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REFERENCES

y ACAS. (2009) Managing attendance and employee turnover. [Online] Advisorybooklet. London: ACAS. Available at:http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1183 [Accessed 22-07-2010]

y Armstrong, M., 2006. A handbook of Human resource Management Practices.

10th ed. London: Kogan Page limited.

y CIPD. (2010) Absence Management. [Online] A-Z of information resources.

London: CIPD

Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/absence/absncman.htm[Accessed 22-07-2010]

y Drucker, P.F., (1986) Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. [E-book]

New York: Truman Talley books / E.P. Dutton. Available at: www.torrentz.com

http://torrentz.com/search?q=peter+drucker [Accessed 27-07-2010]

y Konkan Times, (2010) Termination of employee contracts as per UAE labor laws.[Online] India: Konkan Times. Available at

http://www.kokantimes.com/2010/04/05/termination-of-employment-contract-as-per-uae-

labour-law/ [Accessed 23-07-2010]

y Schermerhorn, R. Hunt, G. Osborn, N. 2002. [E-Book]Organizational Behavior.7th ed. Phoenix: Wiley. Available at:

http://theebooksbay.com/ebook/organizational-behavior-7th-edition/

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