My role is to undertake a period of work experience, using primary research and any other contacts I might have to collect data and opinions about the implementation of key areas of human resources management business in my area.
Human resources assignment
Interim 1
My role is to undertake a period of work experience, using primary research and any other contacts I might have to collect data and opinions about the implementation of key areas of human resources management business in my area. I will need to request a variety of documents and information to assist me with my brief. I must maintain the cooperation and the confidence of the business at all times. I have been placed at DBF associates for my two weeks work experience. DBF Associates is an accountancy firm.
Britain's businesses operate in increasingly competitive markets. In order to achieve a greater market share, all elements of the firm must remain as competitive as possible. Usually businesses analyse all parts of the firms operation to ensure that standards and costs are as good as, if not better then, the overseas competition.
The government has invested heavily in training and education to try to make sure that the human resource element of British business is not left behind in context to the rest of the business world.
The government feels that without an understanding of the value of people to a business, many firms may never catch up to foreign competition.
To try to monitor and evaluate their progress firms have made with the competitiveness of their HR department. The government has instructed the trade and industry secretary, Stephen Byers to look into how well people management actually takes place across a range of firms.
The human resources function engages in many activities such as hiring and firing employees, staff training and development. These activities are carried out with the aim of contributing to the achievements of the business objectives.
The human resources department will be involved in: -
> Human Resources planning
> Equal opportunities
> Recruitment and selection
> Motivation
> Job analysis and job evaluation
> Performance appraisal
> Employee welfare, benefits and compensation
> Payment systems
> Health and safety
> Industrial relations
> Discipline
Human Resources Planning
Its main role is to manage the firms Human Resources. These are the employees or personnel in a business that help it to achieve its objectives. They might include production workers, office staff, and members of the marketing team, accountants or cleaners.
In an ideal world, businesses should plan ahead when it comes to human resources. A well-organized business will have forecasts and projections of its future staffing needs. These will then be matched to forecasts and projections about the local labour market, which means that the business can develop appropriate strategies for the recruitment, training and development of its staff.
If businesses are going to be effective and efficient they need to manage their employees, or human resources well. Well-managed workers will be happier, better motivated, more productive and more responsive. Badly managed employees are more likely to miss work, be less enthusiastic, and less willing to show initiative.
The personnel department will deal with many factors associated with employees.
These include: -
> Induction, development & Training.
> Appraisal & Termination of Employment.
> Rewards & Conditions of Employment.
> Working Conditions.
> Performance management.
. Training and development
Training and Development are currently big issues for many businesses in most parts of the country, especially where there are low rates of unemployment. Moreover, more and more businesses are realizing that if they fail to invest in training and development they will become uncompetitive.
2. Appraisal and termination of employment
Appraisal is the process of assessing the effectiveness of a process or an employee. It is usually conducted by comparing goals with outcomes. An employee appraisal might be conducted through a questionnaire but is more commonly a one-to-one discussion between employee and manager.
The conversation will focus upon the employee's performance, perhaps in relation to pre-set indicators such as timekeeping, customer sales levels, and contribution to teamwork. The appraisal interview may take place annually or more frequently; it will usually end with discussion of career prospects and training needs.
3. Conditions of employment
Conditions of employment are the details of pay, working hours and holiday time that are set out in an employment contract.
4. Working conditions
The physical surroundings and atmosphere of a workplace e.g. state of decoration and amount of pollution. Professor Herzberg regards them as hygiene factors, for whereas poor working conditions may be de-motivating, good conditions become accepted as the norm and therefore give no positive satisfaction.
5. Performance management
Performance Management refers to different strategies designed to get the best of a businesses work force. Different techniques are employed which attempt to relate performance with pay, or promotion or training. Such schemes are not always popular with workers.
Equal opportunities
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4. Working conditions
The physical surroundings and atmosphere of a workplace e.g. state of decoration and amount of pollution. Professor Herzberg regards them as hygiene factors, for whereas poor working conditions may be de-motivating, good conditions become accepted as the norm and therefore give no positive satisfaction.
5. Performance management
Performance Management refers to different strategies designed to get the best of a businesses work force. Different techniques are employed which attempt to relate performance with pay, or promotion or training. Such schemes are not always popular with workers.
Equal opportunities
A situation where employees and potential recruits have equal chances of being employed or promoted, whatever their sex, race, colour, religion or disability. The pursuit of this goal has been frustrated by personal and organisational discrimination. For example, in Northern Ireland it can be difficult for Catholics to gain employment in predominantly Protestant organisations. In the whole of Britain, job applications by blacks are much less likely to succeed than those of whites.
Recruitment and selection
Recruitment is the process of identifying the need for a new employee, defining the job and the appropriate person for it, attracting a number of suitable candidates, and then selecting the one best suited to the job. The complete process of turning the need for a new employee into a successful appointment.
This would include advertising the vacancy (or headhunting), short listing, dealing with references, assessing candidates, deciding on the most suitable and then debriefing the unsuccessful candidates. Throughout the process it is necessary to avoid discrimination by sex, race, disability or age. This not only avoids legal challenges to decisions, but also ensures that the best candidate is appointed to the job.
Businesses recruit for many reasons. Businesses could recruit if there is changing in job roles, dismissal, resignation, retirement or internal promotion. There is a recruitment process, which is shown below: -
> The decision is made as to whether recruitment is necessary.
> The job description is prepared.
> The personnel specification is prepared.
> Plans are made of hoe, when and where to advertise.
> Applicants are short-listed.
> References are requested.
> Candidates are invited for interview and selection tests.
> The successful candidate is offered the job and signs the contract of employment.
> Induction and training is carried out.
> Job training is given as required.
> Appraise performance.
Motivation
Motivation, as defined by Professor Herzberg, is the will to work due to enjoyment of the work itself. He urges that it should be distinguished from 'movement'. According to the Professor, 'If you do a good job because you want to do a good job, that's motivation. If you do it because you want a house or a Jaguar, that is movement'.
Many other writers and business people use the term motivation differently, to mean anything that causes people to achieve more than they would otherwise do. The writings of industrial psychologists and sociologists, which shed light on the factors determining the satisfaction and motivation of employees. The ideas involved can be grouped into two: 'needs' theory and 'expectancy' theory:
> 'Needs' theory examines workers' physical, social and psychological requirements from a job; well known theorists include FW Taylor, Elton Mayo and Frederick Herzberg
> Expectancy theory suggests that people are not all driven by the same needs; their motivation is determined by how sure they feel that a desired outcome will be achieved. This approach is associated with Victor Vroom.
> Frederick Herzberg- the two-factor theory.
> Elton mayo- Hawthorne studies.
> Douglas McGregor- theory x and theory y.
> Frederic W Taylor- scientific management.
> Abraham Maslow- hierarchy of needs.
> Vroom- expectancy theory.
Job analysis and job evaluation
Job analysis is an investigation into the demands of a job to identify the tasks and skills required for high performance (to draw up a job description). These can then be related to the abilities demanded from the employee in order to draw up a job specification.
Job evaluation is comparing the demands of different jobs in order to establish a systematic structure of grading and pay scales. This will involve identifying the skills, experience and responsibility involved in each job. Given the psychological significance of status in the workplace, a job evaluation exercise may cause great disquiet. Those that receive lower grading than expected may become de-motivated.
Performance appraisal
Performance appraisal is the process of judging the effectiveness of an employee's contribution over a period of time. It can be conducted every quarter, every six months or on a yearly basis. A fellow employee, often the immediate superior, carries out the appraisal though it is usually based more on discussion than inspection. A performance appraisal might follow these stages: -
> At the start of the year, discuss the appraisee's personal objectives. I.e. hoped for achievements and developments.
> Towards the end of the period, ask the employee to complete a self- appraisal form.
> Use the latter as the basis for discussion of the employee's achievements, strengths, weaknesses, training needs, career intentions and future objectives.
The process is intended to provide employees with feedback on their performance and therefore be motivating.
Health and safety
Health and safety work act 1974 imposes on employers the duty 'to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work' of all staff. Reasonably practicable means that it is accepted that the risks of hazard can be weighed against the cost of prevention. The main provisions of the act are: -
> Firms must provide all necessary equipment and clothing free of charge.
> Employers must provide a safe working environment.
> All firms with five or more employees must have a written safety policy on display.
> Union- appointed safety representatives have the right to investigate and inspect the work place and the cause of any accidents.
Responsibilities of the human resource function
The human resources manager is responsible for a variety of human resources functions including: -
Manpower planning- forecasting the number and type of staff the organisation needs in the future.
Attracting sufficient candidates: candidates with the right qualities so that the organisation can select the best people for the job. A company needs sufficient candidates with the right qualities so that the worker can work to the best of their ability. This can save a company from training the workers.
Training and developing: training and developing staff so that they can perform to the highest level possible. Training is important for the workers so that the workers know what they are doing, so that they have no need to constantly be supervised.
Designing jobs: Designing jobs that are stimulating and interesting so that the organisation gets the best out of people. This will be difficult for an accountancy firm because all the work involves using maths and I.T skills.
Ensuring that organisational structures and procedures allow employees to express their views, ideas, complaints and worries.
Designing ways of introducing and managing change that minimise any negative impact on individuals and groups.
Providing fair and legal procedures for discipline and grievances and ensuring that they are applied uniformly throughout the organisation.
Keeping within the law on issues such as health and safety, equal opportunities, gender and race discrimination.
Dealing with trade unions, staff associations, disputes, industrial tribunals and other legal actions.
Internal labour market
As the discipline of human resource management has developed managers have become increasingly interested in the external manpower environment. They need to know what manpower is available now or in the future both in terms of the number of possible employees and skills they possess. They will also need to know what skills and educational qualifications school and colleges are likely to have. Data is published in national newspapers every year and local performances can be monitored. The graph below illustrates the GCSE performances of schoolchildren nationally, in the Manchester and Oldham area.
The above graph shows that 50% of students from Manchester achieve 5+ GCSE grades A-C. However, in Oldham only 35% of students achieve 5+ GCSE grades A-C. The area in which DBF associates are located has a 50% pass rate of A-C. This means that DBF associates can employ students when they leave school and they are on training. They could also get students whilst they are attending college or university and give them job training or work experience.
There are a few measures that a business can use in order to measure the effectiveness of its employees:
Labour Turnover.
Number of employees who leave per year =1/ total number of staff employed=14*100= 7.1%
The labour turnover for DBF accountants is low. To show this there is need to improve recruitment, induction, promotion and training programmes-by placing the right person in the right job that they receive the right support, which is required.
Absenteeism.
This measures the proportion of the workforce who is absent from work in a particular period of time. It is calculated using the following formula:
Number of employees absent per year = 2/ total number of employed staff = 14 *100= 14.3%
To reduce absenteeism a company can improve facilities, have substitute staff, reduce sick pay and have flexible working hours. The level of absenteeism is low for DBF accountants because it has excellent facilities, which motivates employees to come to work. DBF has excellent up to date computers, an excellent canteen, friendly staff and a friendly manager. These are all motivating factors.
To reduce absenteeism there should be more white people and Pakistanis at DBF associates. DBF associates should have an equal spread of different cultured workers. DBF should have substitute staff so if a person is sick, when they come back they do not have a large pile of work to do.
Labour Productivity.
This reflects the efficiency of the workforce, and it is measured by the amount of output per worker. It is calculated using the following formula:
Labour productivity could be increased by the application of new technology to production methods and administrative procedures.
Waste levels.
'Waste' products refers to lost and damaged raw materials, poor quality output which has to be reworked, and output which has to be discarded due to its poor workmanship. It is calculated using the following formula:
If a business has a high percentage of 'waste' products, then this could be due to a poorly trained workforce with low levels of both motivation and job satisfaction. It is vital that the reasons for this are discovered quickly, since the effect on customer loyalty and reputation could be disastrous if the business supplies poor quality output to its customers.
Skill shortages-
If there are skills shortages then a company will find it hard to recruit workers who are specialists in a specific subject. There are skill shortages for accountants but DBF associates have sufficient staff. This is because not many people do accounting degrees and also are qualified in ICT, maths and management skills.
Excess labour-
If there is excess labour then a company will look at the employees with the most skills and qualifications and give them the better job. They will have to lay some workers off or transfer them to another part of the firm
Training-
This is the provision of work-related education. Training the workforce is important because a trained workforce can work without constant supervision.
Culture of the firm
The firm has a person culture. This means that there is a loose collection of individuals from which most of them are professional. The employees share the facilities available, however they each pursue there own goals and targets separately. Where there is person culture power is not really an issue, due to the fact that the entire workforce are experts in there own right. This culture best serves the individual.
Management style
DBF has a democratic management. The employees of DBF are involved in decision-making. This is better for a company because the manager and the employees have a close link. At DBF, the manager sits and works among the employees.
Staff structure
The firm has a flat structure.
External labour market
As well as the continuous analysis of the internal staffing resources, monitoring the availability of labour from external resources must also support workforce planning. If an organisation fails to monitor the pool of potential recruits in the working population then the organisation runs the risk of not being able to satisfy any additional manpower recruitments from external sources.
For example, an organisation may think that it can recruit labour from the local market, but discovers however, that the skills required are in very short supply, it may have to set salaries higher in order to attract people who have these skills from a national market. The repercussions can be considerable, and the organisations objectives may have to be reviewed and modified.
The following text is about the graphs for Manchester statistics on pages 11, 12, and 13. These tables show the local labour market for the Manchester area.
Table one shows what the labour market is like around the Manchester area where DBF associates is situated. The table shows the economic activity rate, which shows the number of people who are unable to find unemployment. The rate of unemployment is not significantly high with only around 60% of the total population in employment. For DBF associates this means that they will find it easier to recruit staff then if employment was at 90%. Table one shows that 89000 males are employed compared to only 72000 females. This does affect DBF associates because there are more male workers then there are female workers at DBF associates. DBF associates should employ more female workers to get an equal spread of male and female workers. Therefore DBF associates would employ more women in part time employment. This has many advantages because women are easy to recruit part time because most women only do part time work and hardly do any full time work.
Table two shows full and part-time employment by age group in Manchester, for March 2000 to February 2001. The number of part time and full time employees is at its highest in the 25-49 age group. This is due to the fact that women have children to look after. Another reason for low employment in Manchester is due to the fact that there are many ethnic minorities living in Manchester and some religions and cultures do not allow women to work. For DBF associates this means that they need to recruit workers between the ages of 25-49. This is the case because most of the workers are aged between 25-49.
Table three shows employment by major occupations: Manchester, March 2000 to February 2001.The table shows that professional occupations including accountants has 20 000 employed out of 160 000 which is the second highest after managers and administrators which is 23 000 employed out of 160 000. the implications for DBF associates are: -
Table four shows the population aged 16 and over by gender and ethnic group, March 2000 to February 2001. The table shows that in total there are more female workers then male. There were also more white female workers than male workers. There are more Asian workers then there are white workers. This is the case at DBF associates because there are more Asian male workers then there are Asian female workers. DBF associates should employ more female workers (Asian and white).
This would solve the problem of there only being one main culture at DBF associates, this would also motivate workers because there would be an equal spread of workers in terms of culture.
This pattern is also shown at DBF associates because there are more white female workers then Asian female workers. There are three white females working at DBF associate and only two Asian female workers. There are more Asian male workers then there are Asian female workers. There are two Asian female workers at DBF and there are eight Asian male workers at DBF. DBF associates should have more Asian women and more white women employed because there are more Asian men working there.
Table five shows working age employment and employment rate by gender and ethnic group. This shows that there are more male workers then there are female workers. This is the case at DBF associates as there are more male (15) workers than female (6) workers. To overcome this problem, I think that DBF associates should recruit more female workers.
Table six shows the working age employment and economically active by population by highest qualification and gender. All origins and cultures besides white have fewer workers. In fact not enough to put on the table. This is the total opposite of DBF because there are more workers that are Asian then there are white workers. I think that DBF associates should employ more white workers to get rid of this problem of not enough of one culture and too much of another culture.
Nasir Ayub