Ways to contribute achievement of the strategic direction

The human resource management is the procedure of recruiting, hiring, deploying and managing employees of an organization. It also includes conducting a job analysis, recruiting an appropriate person for the job, orientation, training, evaluating performance, resolving disputes and more. This report includes human resource management of Home Cosy which is a mail-order shopping company in New Zealand. The company provides high value-added logistics with a quick delivery system. It has operations as a head office and distribution centre. This report comprises the ways contribute to the achievement of the strategic direction of the company. The factors contributing to the appointment process are described. The improvements facilitated by the induction process have been defined along with the designing of a workplace learning programme. The report further includes the advantages of the performance appraisal and reward plans in order to advance the performance of the employees in the Home Cosy. Further, the reward system like ‘performance-based pay’ has been critically analysed along with other effective reward plans. The succession planning strategy has been evaluated and justified how it is best for the company. The motivational theories have been recommended and applied to Saturday staff and flexible staff in order to improve their engagement and productivity. The effective type of organisational culture has been proposed to support success in the Home Cosy. The report has also identified the HR related problem faced in the company and the way it will be managed. Finally, the effective communication strategies have been proposed to engage stakeholders along with identifying HR related problem.

Home Cosy develops strategic plans in order to attain the strategic direction of the organization. It helps in bringing better results. These goals are:

Engagement:  The strategic planning is implied as a process, not an event. The engagement of the staff in all the levels of the company is a key element. It helps in generating additional input and it helps in building commitment to the end plan. It is vital to involve employees in the strategic planning and direction for the Home Cosy. It offers understandings into the issues, challenges and the opportunities which have not been earlier recognized or understood.

Communication: The strategic planning is supposed to be effective when the bottom and down communication methodology is considered. It initiates with all points of employees and informing them about the undertaking of the strategic planning process. It comprises how employees will be included in the process.

Role of the Human resource manager

Innovation: In order to develop a new product or service some strategic plans are required to be included. The employees’ together work on the major advantages and are provided with the investment money to certify success. The strategies are formed for the new products and services.

Ethics: Ethics have an important role in human resource management which concerns human matters especially of compensation, improvement, industrial relations, health and safety concerns. The ethical human resource management (HRM) directs treatment of the employees with ordinary courtesy and distributive fairness. Ethics helps to differentiate between right and wrong and to act consequently. The ethical HRM considers elementary human rights, civil and occupation right. It ensures safety and privacy in the workplace. The defensible treatment to the employees is focused along with the respect, fairness and honesty based process in the workplace.

HRM plays an important role within the organization. The department is responsible for formulating strategies which focuses on the recruitment and retaining employees and oversees the projects which promote productivity of the company. The HRM factors identified in achieving the strategic goal of the company are training and development, employee acquisition, compliance management, cost and quality control (Albrecht, Bakker, Gruman, Macey & Saks, 2015). The training programs are created in order to strengthen the quality of work within the company. The HRM is the department which is responsible for the employing and evolving employees. Both employee retention and acquisition are vibrant to the accomplishment of the company. The labour relations and dispute perseverance operations of the company are handled by the HRM department. The HR specialists help the company in conversing costs at the time of developing compensation packages and the employee assistance programs.

As a Human resource manager of Home Cosy, the company is required to recruit employees.

There are some factors which are to be considered in the recruitment processes so that the fresh talent contributes actively in the organization:

Education and credentials: The education background of the employees is important. The degree of the student is a compliment for the Home Cosy. The employees are required to have certificates incompetent skills.

Work experience: The work experience is one of the important considerations for the job. The experience in particular areas is helpful in the specific staff roles.  Having a strong work background demonstrates a good work ethic (Verma, 2017).

Communication skills: It is essential to communicate effectively. As an HR manager, it is preferred to look for a candidate who has both excellent verbal and written communication skills. It is desired to look for a candidate who can communicate clearly on both phone and email.

Factors to be considered in the recruitment process

Skills set: The specific skills set of the employees is an acute factor at the time of making a recruitment decision. For instance, a person having experience in resolving HR issues is capable of assisting the HR manager (Humburg & Van der Velden, 2015).

The induction processes improve the employee and organization. The induction training helps to:

Make employees feel appreciated and prised: Proper induction training offers a deep welcome to the employees and concentrates on illuminating the suspicions about the company and his job. This training makes sure that the employee feels calm in the organization.

Provides necessary information: An inclusive induction training program helps new employees to get all the compulsory details about the company and the organization in whole. It is helpful in understanding work norms, policies and procedures of the company (Taneja, Sewell & Odom, 2015).

Helpful in establishing good communication: The induction training program facilitates employees and organization improvement. The relationship can be improved by introducing new employees to the supervisor, other employees and directors of the organization.

A workplace learning programme is used by the organization to welcome new employees and guide them for new roles. A strong workplace learning program will have an impact on the improvement of the skills of the current employees. This programme even works to attract top talent and retain key employees (Cascetta, Carteni, Pagliara & Montanino, 2015). It mainly covers induction and the appointment process. The learning and development programme impact on improving the current skills of the employees. It reduces employees up skill and advance career by going into other roles within the company. The appointment process benefits a jobseeker in finding jobs that value growth, education and long-term commitment to their career.

The performance appraisal is basically a comparison of the actual performance with the expected performance in order to define the contribution of the employees to the organization. It is the aim of the performance appraisal to identify strengths and weaknesses of the employees in order to place the precise employee in the right job. The manager establishes performance standards in order to meet the standards and expectations (Amin, Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail, Zaleha Abdul Rasid & Daverson Andrew Selemani, 2014). The advantages of the performance appraisal and reward plans can be vindicated by the promotion, compensation, employees’ enlargement, selection authentication and communication. The performance appraisal helps the managers to draw out the promotion programmes for competent employees. At the time of the review of the performance, inefficient workers can be terminated or downgraded. The compensation package is provided to the employees as per their performance. The employee’s development is an organized procedure of the performance appraisal and reward plan. It is helpful to the managers in framing training policies and programmes (Swider, Zimmerman & Barrick, 2015). The employees’ development is helpful in analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the employees so that a new position can be intended for skilled employees. It is equally helpful in mounting future development programmes. The strengths and weaknesses of the employees can be known by the managers in the selection procedure. Effective communication is important between employers and employees. The employees can develop the spirit of work and boost the morale of employees with the help of performance appraisal (Caza, McCarter & Northcraft, 2015).  

Employee and organization improvements

The promotions are helpful in promoting job security. As it has been discussed in the case study that employees want to obtain a permanent position in the Home Cosy. The promotion assists in refining the performance of the employees in the organization. The performance appraisal draws out the compensation package for the employees. The programme tries to give worth to the performance of the employees. The merit rating can be possible only with the help of the performance appraisal (DeNisi & Smith, 2014). The compensation packages of the Home Cosy can comprise bonus, higher salary, allowances, additional benefits and prerequisites reliant on the performance appraisal and reward plans. The criteria for the compensation are required to be merit than the seniority (Iqbal, Akbar & Budhwar, 2015).

The reward system is used by the Home Cosy to reward performance and motivate employees on an individual basis. These are generally separate from the salary and can be monetary in nature. The performance-based pay is used by the company as a reward system. It is basically linking performance to the rewards for the staff development. The performance-based rewards used by the Home Cosy are pay, bonuses, promotion, travelling expenses, working on special tasks and more (Dusterhoff, Cunningham & MacGregor, 2014). These rewards are provided by the Home Cosy for the additional working hours and the work given on the short notice. It is used by the company in retaining employees.

The other most effective reward plans to improve employee performance can be bonuses and prizes and awards. The bonuses are the most popular incentives used by the companies to improve the performance of the employees. It helps in increasing production. The bonuses are provided after surpassing a certain goal (Wang, Noe & Wang, 2014). The cash bonuses are added to the wages of the employees. These are basically supplemental wages. It is the reward for the employee’s performance for the previous years and is generally short-term motivator. It is also a powerful tool for encouraging future top-level efforts. On the other side, prizes and awards are a great way to enhance employee’s performance (Rosen, Kacmar, Harris, Gavin & Hochwarter, 2017). The managers reward employees who meet certain goals. The awards are given to appreciate employees. The awards and prizes are taxable income for the employees. The prize and awards can be in the form of cash awards, prizes, non-cash recognition awards and awards for performance.

A workplace learning programme for the organization

Effective succession planning reduces the potential risk to the organization by addressing in a active manner. It assimilates a number of internal processes like talent management and employees retention.

The strategies successful for the succession planning strategy are career development programmes and mentoring programmes. These strategies are best for the Home Cosy. The career development programs propose employees tools and resources to plot careers and plan for the advancement. It is helpful to the employees in developing skills along with the competencies to fulfil the significant roles in the organization. The employees of the Home Coy fulfil criteria needed to advance new position. The employers can even track the progress made by the employees. It helps to identify the suitable candidates for succession (Cheng, Wang, Mørch, Chen & Spector, 2014). The career development programme adds to refining employee’s engagement and retention. It equally addresses the challenges of the development and retention of the aspirants.

On the other side, mentoring programs provide structured opportunities to the employees in order to learn from the experienced members. This program enables leadership development by placing brilliant mentees with mentors in the leadership positions who can guide and capability to navigate and incorporate with the organization’s culture (Mueller & Naffziger, 2015). This program has helped in improving employee retention by offering guidance and support to talented employees. The employees of the organization need to direct and assimilate with the culture. The mentors notice capable mentees and offer an insight to the employers in identifying candidates for succession.

The Mc Clelland’s need theory can be applied to the Saturday staff. This theory is linked with the learning theory as it is alleged that the needs are attained by the events people experienced in the environment and culture. It has been realized that people have behaved differently who acquire a precise need. This theory focuses on the three needs, achievement, power and affiliation. Achievement refers to the need for accomplishing and demonstrating competence or mastery. This theory is recommended for the Home Cosy as the students of the Auckland University and Manukau Institute of Technology rarely work on the Saturdays. The motivations of these students working on the Saturdays comprise saving for holidays, home improvement and other luxury items. Once they achieve the things desire, likely to leave the organization. The staff comes on Saturday in order to supplement their primary income (Lu, Lu, Gursoy & Neale, 2016). The need of power is apprehensive with making an impact on others. It is desired to exercise control over others and has influence over others. The Saturday staff in the Home Cosy does not take their work seriously, therefore, it is difficult for the company to manage, motivate and control. The need of affiliation is referred to as a plea to create and preserve friendly relations with others. The people having higher needs value the feeling of others and have a strong desire for the acceptance and approval from others (Park & Sturman, 2016). The students have to wait for the long seven months to apply for the Saturday work.

Herzberg’s theory can be applied to the flexible staff in order to improve their engagement along with the productivity. Here are some motivating factors that cause job satisfaction and motivation can be offered to the employees in the Home Cosy in order to engage them for a long time. As per this theory, there are several motivating factors which causes job satisfaction whereas some are others are separated factors cause dissatisfaction (Coetzee & Stoltz, 2015). The factors which cause dissatisfaction in the company as work is given to them on the short notice and notice periods for being told that there is no work at short notice. The other conditions include the staff is called for the short notice when the staff members become less reliable. All these factors lead to the termination of the flexible employment agreement. The company is recommended to use more of the motivational factors to motivate flexible staff and keep them satisfied. It can give them feel of recognition and career progression (Hur, 2018).

The organization can be structured in several ways depending on the objectives. It determines the mode in which an organisation operates and performs its activities. The most effective types of organisational culture to support success in Home Cosy can be matrix organizational structure and divisional organizational structure. The matrix organizational structure is a mixture of two or more types of organizational structures like projectized and functional organization structure. The matrix organizational structure is helpful in achieving higher efficiency, readiness and quick market adaption (Aladwan, Bhanugopan & D’Netto, 2015). It even responds faster to market or customer demand in offering service. This organization structure is more suitable for the company as it operates in the dynamic environment. Here some employees exert under more than one boss, the first can be a functional manager whereas other can be project manager. The functional manager looks after the functional part and decides the ways of doing work and distributes the project among employees. On the other hand, the project manager has power over the administrative part of the project like what to do, follow up the schedule and evaluation of the performance (Osibanjo, Adeniji, Falola & Heirsmac, 2014). The role, responsibilities and work priorities should be cleared in order to avoid confusion in an organization. A balanced organisational structure will be more preferable for the Home Cosy as the power and authority will be pooled between the functional managers and project managers.

The divisional organizational structure is helpful in organizing the activities of the Home Cosy around the geographical, market or service groups. Here each division comprises a set of functions. The company having divisional organizational structure can handle its own accounting activities along with the sales, marketing, process and so on. The divisional organizational structure is adapted to offer better service to the customers (Kramar, 2014). The advantages of implementing a divisional organizational structure for the company can be in the form of more accountability, a great deal of competition, multiple offerings and in the decision making. This approach responds faster to the local market conditions.

The HR related issues are the main problems which cause low productivity and prevent a business from expanding. The HRM deals with the difficulty in recruitment and retention of the staff. This problem is largely restricted to the temporary and the Saturday staff. This situation can be managed by adopting the factors given below:

By offering good pay: The employees can be retained by offering higher pay scale. It is a loss to the company’s productivity if an efficient employee leaves organization due to pay scale. It is fair to recruit and retain employees who increase the productivity of the company by offering a higher salary (Han, Bartol & Kim, 2015).

Productivity based incentive programs: The productivity based incentive programmes is helpful in managing the issues faced by the HRM. The employees like to learn and grow in the job, collaborate with employers, perform meaningful work and recognition for the job done. So, such programmes give a chance to retain for a long time in the organization (Bailey, Madden, Alfes & Fletcher, 2017).

Make sure that the applicant is having the appropriate skills: The HR manager should be sure that the applicants are having the desired skills, abilities and the minimum experience. Choosing the right person at the time of recruitment can solve various problems of the HR. The management can even hire employees on a temporary basis and once it finds them appropriate then the employees can be hired on the full job basis (Davis, 2015).

Motivational activities: The HRM is required to conduct motivational activities in the workplace. Various internal, as well as internal activities, can be conducted to learn something additional apart from the routine work. Such employees are more satisfied and contribute more to the organization.

The effective communication skills to engage with stakeholders are:

The information should be presented in a transparent way: The information shared in the comprehend format is more likely to engage stakeholders. It takes time to understand intentions and the role of the stakeholders which can affect them. Home Cosy can comprehend the intentions and offer the information (Andriof, Waddock, Husted & Rahman, 2017).

Provide feedback to the shareholders: The stakeholders should be provided feedback to show their interest and how their issues are addressed and resolved. It helps the company to enhance its performance along with tackling HR issues (Karanges, Johnston, Beatson & Lings, 2015). Tracking of commitments made to the stakeholders helps to coordinate with the team members and share information. The follow-up actions can even be taken appropriately.

Communicate with the stakeholders in the way works for them: It should be identified that each person is different and there are various communication channels such as email, social media and phone or group meetings (Xavier, 2014). It is preferable to choose a suitable communication channel. The people should be making available various options to communicate with the company and provide their input.

Conclusion: 

From the above report, it can be concluded that Home Cosy can recruit employees successfully by considering important factors like education and credentials, work experience, communication skills and skills set. The performance appraisal and reward plans implemented by the Home Cosy are capable of improving employees’ performance. The succession planning strategy has been evaluated and justified how it is best for the company. The motivational theories applied by the Home Cosy can solve the problem faced by the Saturday and flexible staff. It is not only proficient of improving staff engagement but productivity too. The types of organizational culture support success in the organization. The HR related problem has been appropriately identified and analysed by a given situation. The communication strategies applied by the Home Cosy can easily identify the problem and engage stakeholders.

References: 

Aladwan, K., Bhanugopan, R., & D’Netto, B. (2015). The effects of human resource management practices on employees’ organisational commitment. International journal of organizational Analysis, 23(3), 472-492.

Albrecht, S. L., Bakker, A. B., Gruman, J. A., Macey, W. H., & Saks, A. M. (2015). Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), 7-35.

Amin, M., Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail, W., Zaleha Abdul Rasid, S., & Daverson Andrew Selemani, R. (2014). The impact of human resource management practices on performance: Evidence from a Public University. The TQM Journal, 26(2), 125-142.

Andriof, J., Waddock, S., Husted, B., & Rahman, S. S. (2017). Unfolding stakeholder engagement. In Unfolding stakeholder thinking (pp. 19-42). Routledge.

Bailey, C., Madden, A., Alfes, K., & Fletcher, L. (2017). The meaning, antecedents and outcomes of employee engagement: A narrative synthesis. International Journal of Management Reviews, 19(1), 31-53.

Cascetta, E., Carteni, A., Pagliara, F., & Montanino, M. (2015). A new look at planning and designing transportation systems: A decision-making model based on cognitive rationality, stakeholder engagement and quantitative methods. Transport policy, 38, 27-39.

Caza, A., McCarter, M. W., & Northcraft, G. B. (2015). Performance benefits of reward choice: A procedural justice perspective. Human Resource Management Journal, 25(2), 184-199.

Cheng, B., Wang, M., Mørch, A. I., Chen, N. S., & Spector, J. M. (2014). Research on e-learning in the workplace 2000–2012: a bibliometric analysis of the literature. Educational Research Review, 11, 56-72.

Coetzee, M., & Stoltz, E. (2015). Employees’ satisfaction with retention factors: Exploring the role of career adaptability. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 89, 83-91.

Davis, P. J. (2015). Implementing an employee career-development strategy: How to build commitment and retain employees. Human Resource Management International Digest, 23(4), 28-32.

DeNisi, A., & Smith, C. E. (2014). Performance appraisal, performance management, and firm-level performance: A review, a proposed model, and new directions for future research. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 127-179.

Dusterhoff, C., Cunningham, J. B., & MacGregor, J. N. (2014). The effects of performance rating, leader–member exchange, perceived utility, and organizational justice on performance appraisal satisfaction: Applying a moral judgment perspective. Journal of business ethics, 119(2), 265-273.

Han, J. H., Bartol, K. M., & Kim, S. (2015). Tightening up the performance–pay linkage: Roles of contingent reward leadership and profit-sharing in the cross-level influence of individual pay-for-performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(2), 417.

Humburg, M., & Van der Velden, R. (2015). Skills and the graduate recruitment process: Evidence from two discrete choice experiments. Economics of Education Review, 49, 24-41.

Hur, Y. (2018). Testing Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation in the Public Sector: Is it Applicable to Public Managers?. Public Organization Review, 18(3), 329-343

Iqbal, M. Z., Akbar, S., & Budhwar, P. (2015). Effectiveness of performance appraisal: An integrated framework. International Journal of Management Reviews, 17(4), 510-533.

Karanges, E., Johnston, K., Beatson, A., & Lings, I. (2015). The influence of internal communication on employee engagement: A pilot study. Public Relations Review, 41(1), 129-131.

Kramar, R. (2014). Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource management the next approach?. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(8), 1069-1089.

Lu, L., Lu, A. C. C., Gursoy, D., & Neale, N. R. (2016). Work engagement, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions: A comparison between supervisors and line-level employees. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(4), 737-761.

Mueller, C. B., & Naffziger, D. W. (2015). Strategic planning in small firms: Activity and process realities. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 10(1), 78-85.

Osibanjo, A. O., Adeniji, A. A., Falola, H. O., & Heirsmac, P. T. (2014). Compensation packages: a strategic tool for employees’ performance and retention. Leonardo Journal of Sciences, (25), 65-84.

Park, S., & Sturman, M. C. (2016). Evaluating form and functionality of pay?for?performance plans: the relative incentive and sorting effects of merit pay, bonuses, and long?term incentives. Human Resource Management, 55(4), 697-719.

Rosen, C. C., Kacmar, K. M., Harris, K. J., Gavin, M. B., & Hochwarter, W. A. (2017). Workplace politics and performance appraisal: A two-study, multilevel field investigation. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 24(1), 20-38.

Swider, B. W., Zimmerman, R. D., & Barrick, M. R. (2015). Searching for the right fit: Development of applicant person-organization fit perceptions during the recruitment process. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(3), 880.

Taneja, S., Sewell, S. S., & Odom, R. Y. (2015). A culture of employee engagement: A strategic perspective for global managers. Journal of Business Strategy, 36(3), 46-56.

Verma, N. (2017). A Profile Based Study on McClelland’s Needs. Journal of Management Research (09725814), 17(2).

Wang, S., Noe, R. A., & Wang, Z. M. (2014). Motivating knowledge sharing in knowledge management systems: A quasi–field experiment. Journal of Management, 40(4), 978-1009.

Xavier, B. (2014). Shaping the future research agenda for compensation and benefits management: Some thoughts based on a stakeholder inquiry. Human resource management review, 24(1), 31-40.