HRMN300 Assignment 1

HRMN300 Assignment 1

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Please submit your assignment as an attachment in your assignments folder.

• Your assignment cannot be accepted via messages, email or conferences.

• You must submit to the assignment link by the due date stated in the syllabus for credit. A missing assignment will be assigned a 0.

• Respond to all four questions below on a new, blank word processing document (such as MS Word).

• Develop each answer to the fullest extent possible, discussing the nuances of each topic and presenting your arguments logically.

• In addition, include citations from the class content resources in weeks 1- 4 to support your arguments.

o Each answer should be robust and developed in-depth. o You are expected to demonstrate critical thinking skills, as well as an understanding of the issues identified. Some questions may also require personal reflection and practical application. Your responses will be evaluated for content as well as grammar and punctuation. o All writing must be your original work. PLEASE do not copy or quote anything. Sources are just that, a reference. Once you locate the information, read and interpret the data. What does it mean to you? Type your own thoughts and own words. Then, include in-text citations to support your ideas.This is not a research paper.

FORMAT:

o Include a Cover Page with Name, Date, and Title of Assignment.

o Do not include the original question, only the question number.

o Each response should be written in complete sentences, doublespaced and spell-checked. Use 12-point Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins on all sides. Include page numbers according to APA formatting guidelines. o In addition, you will want to include citations in APA format at the end of each answer. Include a minimum of 3 references for each answer.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Question 1:

A) Select three functional areas of HR (i.e. recruiting, selection, training and development, compensation etc.) and, for each one, discuss how that function supports the HR and organizational strategy. Provide specific examples of goals and outcomes that support organizational success.

B) Consider the organization you work for or one you have worked for in the past. Evaluate the effectiveness of the HR function overall and at least two specific functional areas (do not name the organization). Share at least one HR program or initiative that you found particularly effective and discuss how it supported the organization’s strategy. Why was it effective?

Question 2:

A) Discuss how an organization’s culture can impact policies and behaviors related to diversity and multiculturalism. How can HR influence organizational culture to support diversity and multiculturalism? Discuss at least 3 policies or practices that HR can propose and how they should be communicated to senior leaders.

B) Evaluate and discuss the diversity practices and policies of your own organization or one you have worked at. How does

the organizational culture influence diversity and multiculturalism? Provide specific examples, but do not name the organization.

Question 3:

A) Why is retention such a major focus for human resource managers? How does focusing on retention add strategic value to the organization?

B) How would you go about developing a retention program for your organization? Be specific in terms of what steps you would you take. What might be some of your biggest challenges? What type of metrics would you need to obtain and what methods would you use?

Question 4:

A) How are motivation and engagement related to employee retention? What is the difference between job satisfaction and employee engagement? What factors (personal, organizational) might contribute to job satisfaction and engagement? Explain your answer.

B) Think about a job where you have been employed for many years. What factors influenced your job satisfaction? What factors influenced your decision to stay and why? Consider a job where you had a short tenure. What factors influenced your job dissatisfaction? What factors contributed to your resignation and what factors could have made you stay? Which were within the organization’s control?

Question One

1 (a)

Recruitment

If the recruitment of a firm is done correctly, it will lead to the organization having a big pool of talented individuals who are highly qualified for the job and who are ready to work for the organization to enable the firm to achieve success. Proper recruitment assists in the realization of the organization's objectives by ensuring that only the qualified workers can the task and are working hard to achieve their ambitions, which must mirror those of the firm. For instance, the proper recruitment of salespeople and market executives will ensure that the organization meets its goal and objective of increasing its market share (Kimberlee, 2019).

Selection

A good selection process of the employees will ensure that there is a more positive contribution to the financial goals of the firm by the employees. In a micro-enterprise whose goal is to grow even more significant shortly, a proper selection will support HR and organizational strategy in the ways below. Kind and loyal workers will do their best, the employees will embrace the spirit of fairness in their jobs, and the adequately selected employees will treat the organization as though it was their own business; hence they will work hard towards achieving the organizational goals (Kimberlee, 2019).

Training and Development

Training and development support the Human Resources Department of the organization by ensuring that the skills and the technical know-how of the employees are always updated. Trained workers can grasp concepts faster, they treat the customers in a better manner, and they positively contribute to the increase in the profitability of the organization. For instance, if the organization wants to expand to foreign markets in the next ten years, for example, the trained workers who have been taught on the vision, policies and the goals will work with this goal in mind and hence their chances of succeeding in the organization will be more significant. Training and development serve as a mode of motivating the employees, and it increases the relationship between the workers and their bosses (Kimberlee, 2019).

1 (b)

The human resources function has been quite useful in driving change in the organization, increasing the work output, expanding the job skills of the workers and incorporating a forward-thinking approach where a majority of the employees work with the future in mind because they know that what may work today may not work tomorrow. Successful organizations must always select and look forward to resolving the problems that happen in the future once they already have the issues in the present (John, 2013).

The two specific functional areas are:

Innovation: This area starts with the recruitment phase, where the company has ensured that only innovative individuals are selected to join the organization (John, 2013). Once they enter, the organization organizes a rigorous training program that emphasizes the importance of finding new ways to tackle the pressing issues that face society. The innovative functional area of human resources is initiated by the aspect of caring about the people and treating the people as a functional unit, which without it, the organization cannot move forward (John, 2013).

Collaboration: Increased collaboration ensures that the work done by the employees is fun, not dull, and people can share ideas for success. One effective human resources program is the people analytics program, where assigning od tasks to the workers, the compensation to them after doing a good job, and the resolution of any conflicts plus other organizations is made via a carefully analyzed data encompassing every aspect of the employee. This initiative is effective because of its accuracy in decision making and in ensuring that maximum results are obtained from the employees (John, 2013).

2(a)

An organization's culture can impact policies on diversity if it supports variety in the first place. For instance, an organization that prefers people from one location will be less diverse compared to that organization, which tries to put merit and skill above where the employees come from. The human resources department can influence organizational culture to support multiculturalism and diversity through the following ways: The human resources can help policies which ensure that the talent pool of the employees to be recruited is widened. Workers are not just picked from one location (Mason, 2018). This culture will ensure that more people from different cultures are selected to join the organization. For instance, if the company was just selecting people from Seattle, in the United States, it can introduce a culture where the company can employ Mexicans and Canadians; this way, diversity will prevail. The three policies are:

The difference audits: This is where the HR examines whether diversity has been achieved in the several departments of the organization and then the organization will communicate the same to the Senior Managers as part of the audit reports and then it will find ways of ensuring that the equality in the organization is promoted by management (Mason, 2018).

Increasing talent scope in hiring: This can be communicated to the senior managers through board room meetings. A talent scope is where the company will advertise for positions in the company in places which are far away from where the company is domiciled. For instance, advertising for the job in Canada and Mexico, while the company is located in the United States, if the company can do this, it will receive more diverse applicants.

Introducing tolerance and unity lessons as part of the employee training: This requires to be communicated to the Chief Finance Officer, who will authorize funds to be used for this purpose. Employees need to learn how to appreciate other people's cultures and how to be tolerant. This will prepare them in case the organization wants to introduce diversity (Mason, 2018).

2(b)

My organization has always had the following two practices that promote diversity in the workplace. It has ever created a culture of "a sense of belonging." During the on-boarding sessions and the further deployment of the employees to work in different departments of the firm, the employees are quickly welcomed. They are alive to the fact that, at this workplace, despite where your background, your religion, your sexual orientation, or your upbringing, you are now part of the team.

This is implemented in the manner in which the older employees relate to these new employees. The effect of this practice is that new employees, regardless of where they are coming from, never find a hard time trying to adjust to the environment. Within a short time, they become part of the organization, and they hit the ground running in terms of service delivery. At the top management, there is a concept of exchange of roles at the department heads level. For instance, if the head of the human resources of the organization is female, her assistant is a male and vice versa.

3(a)

Retention is an area of concern among human resource managers because the absence of conservation often leads to negative consequences in the firm. If the organization cannot retain its top talents, it is straightforward for a rival organization to poach the organization and hire highly talented employees. Employees are leaving the firm to join a rival group; it creates a negative perception regarding the organization. A bad reputation is bad for business, and the company can quickly lose its customers and its business. An organization that does not retain its employees will be forced to recruit new workers ultimately. The organization incurs a lot of money training completely new employees than it would have spent upgrading the experienced employee and motivating him/her so that he continues offering services to the business with the same vigor and dedication (Empxtrack.com, 2018).

Focusing on retention adds to the strategic value of the organization because the organization can maintain high productivity and performance at high optimal levels. It will be tough for new employees to be motivated enough and to work fast enough to achieve the strategic goals of the organization. The company would spend the money it would have used on hiring new workers in other activities that would help it achieve its goals and obligations (Empxtrack.com, 2018).

3(b)

My retention program for the organization will follow the following steps: First of all, I will measure the past turnover rate of the firm to estimate the extent to which the organization has been losing valuable customers to the competitors. This will make me know precisely where the problem is. The next step will involve getting to know the compensation strategies that the organization has put in place and how best these can be revamped to achieve two things: To ensure that the employees are satisfied and to ensure that these generous compensation packages do not hurt the financial position of the firm (Empxtrack.com, 2018).

From there, I will gather the feedback of the employees and ask them how best we can revamp the working environment so that all the workers are comfortable even as they go about discharging their duties. A working environment is not only about people's physical space where they sit down and work. Work environment could also mean the people in the organization and how they relate with one another. A toxic work environment is one in which most employees find it extremely difficult to work with. Since the organization has not resolved it, the only alternative that they have is to leave the organization and find alternative work elsewhere (Empxtrack.com, 2018).

Other features of the program include: establishing a career path and progression of the employees. If this is done well, most of the employees can picture themselves working at the institution, and they will see that the organization has its issues at heart since; it had planned for their future. Some of the biggest challenges I might face in my quest will be the lack of financial backing and the possibility of rejection by the senior managers of the firm and other employees. Interview and administering of questionnaires will be done to determine the acceptability level of the program. Metrics used will be performance-based. For example, if the organization is a sales and marketing firm, the critical parameter will be the level of customer engagement and the number of units sold per day (Empxtrack.com, 2018).

4 (a)

Engagement and motivation make an employee remain where they are or move on to other greener pastures. Motivation is what keeps the employees psyched up and continue working. It can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Proper motivation ensures that the employees remain where they are. Motivation makes the workers find a reason for waking up every single day and going to work. Without engagement, employees will feel less fulfilled, and they will start thinking that perhaps the role they are handling is not fit for them. Without engagement, the workers will feel that their l qualifications and skills are not appropriately utilized since no challenging task has been given to me. A highly engaged worker will never find time to search for greener pastures elsewhere (Iedunote.com, n.d).

Job satisfaction is a sense of contentment among the employees regarding the benefits that they derive from the employment, the allowances they receive, the insurance, etc. Engagement is the full utilization of the skills and qualifications of the employee in a manner that brings fulfillment to the employee. An engaged worker is given full responsibilities, which shape him and make him a better person. A satisfied worker is not necessarily a highly engaged one. Good pay influences job satisfaction and engagement. A well-remunerated worker will live comfortably and will not have any factors that hinder him from taking up challenging tasks, roles, and responsibilities (Iedunote.com, n.d).

A pleasant working environment is a factor that enhances engagement and satisfaction. A poor environment might distract the employees and make them not to focus on their job. Leadership: Servant leadership and transformational leadership ensure that employees work on being better individuals and working hard towards achieving their goals. With corrupt leaders, engagement is often at its lowest (Iedunote.com, n.d).

4 (b)

In the previous job, we had a perfect medical cover, which included a cover for the immediate family, including a wife and up to five children plus one extra relative. This made me more satisfied with my job because such a cover was not provided anywhere else. My decision to stay was influenced by the proper career path that had been put in place by the organization where one would move from a lower to a higher rank without any issues at all. This path made me see a good future for me at the company.

In the job where I resigned, I could have remained because the manager was kind, quite considerate, and an honorable man. However, the working environment was unbearable. Our office was located near a factory which emitted irritating fumes and sometimes seeped into the office. I could not preserve such a situation. The organization was in control of the environment issue, and it could have sought office premises elsewhere instead of forcing us to stay in such a case (Iedunote.com, n.d).

.

References

Empxtrack.com, (2018). Recruitment and Selection: The Most Important HR function

Retrieved from: https://empxtrack.com/blog/recruitment-and-selection-the-most-important-hr-function/ Accessed on 12/2/2020

Iedunote.com, (n.d). 20 factors affecting job satisfaction

Retrieved from: https://iedunote.com/factors-affecting-job-satisfaction

Accessed on 12/2/2020

John, S. (2013). How Google Re-invented HR and drives success through people analytics

Retrieved from: https://www.insidehr.com.au/how-google-reinvented-hr/

Accessed on 12/2/2020

Kimberlee, L. (2019). Importance of Effective Recruitment and Selection

Retrieved from: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-effective-recruitment-selection-55782.html Accessed on 12/2/2020

Mason, S. (2018). Diversity: HR’s role

Retrieved from: https://www.hrexchangenetwork.com/hr-talent-management/articles/diversity-hrs-role Accessed on12/2/2020