Essay on Human Resource Management Department as an Essential Part of the Firm

Introduction

In today's business atmosphere, human resource management has turned out to become an essential organizational practice. It does not only play a role towards the provision of human resources in a firm, but when implemented efficiently, it can provide a firm with competitive advantage (Singh,2005,p.72). The business environment is dynamic, and this is brought about by increased globalization, technological advancement, and competitiveness. It is an indication that every firm must ensure it incorporates HRM into its short and long-term strategic objectives. The principal role of HRM is to ensure that all the employees work at full productivity to provide positive attainment of set goals. Nevertheless, lapses in some of its function have brought about increased rates of reduced productivity and motivation among employees brought about by ineffective and inefficient rewards and compensation strategy.

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For a firm to motivate, retain, attract and improve job productivity of its employees, reward management is a crucial HRM function (Singh,2005,p.76). The fulfillment of this can exist from two perspectives, extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. According to the intrinsic rewards, it will see a firm offering its employees non-monetary compensations which can include training, job empowerment opportunities or promotions. In the case of extrinsic rewards, a company will see it proving the workers with monetary rewards based on their individual or team performance abilities. Irrespective of the type of rewards a company will decide to use, it should be one that will bring about increased job productivity and motivation to its respective workers (Torrington et al.,2014, p.32) Nevertheless, the reward system should match the employees' performance rates. A reward system should be one that will eliminate any issues that will affect fairness and diversity in the workplace. As seen from the case of Ishbilia international resort, its reward system did not match its employees' needs or performance. The resort did not consider the fact that it employees have various needs based on their ages, duties, and departments before setting up a standardized wages and incentives rewards system.

The management of any organization must first determine all its employee needs, before coming up with an effective rewards system. Without having this, it will lead to adverse cases as seen from the case of the Ishbilia resort at this moment the administration came up with a standardized incentive plan. According to Clayton Paul Alderfer ERG theory of motivation, an individual's needs are divided into three categories Existence, Relatedness, and Growth (Caulton,2012,p.6) The existence needs consist of all the security and physical needs that allow one to carry out their day to day activities without experiencing any form of breakdown (Yang et al.,2012, p.7886). No worker will have an ability to have a higher productivity rate without basic needs and will be motivated only when the health financial and security requirements are provided. Additionally, the relatedness need comprises of the relationship an individual has with other people (Yang et al.,2012, p.7887). In the case of a working environment, hostile relationship between an employee and co-workers or management will lead to reduced motivation thus low productivity. Growth needs consist of the development and progress ability of a person (Yang et al.,2012,p.7887). At the workplace, an employee will become highly motivated when they notice their efforts have brought about positive results. According to Alderfer's theory, the management should recognize that its employees have varied needs and in case of management does not fulfill either; it will affect their motivation thus reduced work productivity (Caulton,2012,p.5). Financial rewards play a crucial role in motivating employees, and this will lead to the fulfillment of organizational and personal goals.

When the management determines its employees' needs, it is then possible to come up with a rewards system. The system will ensure that the employees feel they are sufficiently rewarded for improvement in productivity that is helping the firm to continue increasing its profitability margins. The rewards system should balance the inputs the workers provide the organization with the outputs received from the management. All this is summed up by Adam's Equity theory which allows the administration to understand what their employees' motivation is and come up with a compensation scheme that will not bring about misbalances.

Conferring to the theory, it argues that there should be no misbalance between an employee's performance and what the management will give them in the form of incentives and compensations (Al-Zawahreh and Al-Madi,2012,p.164). In most cases, employees will compare these rewards to other people within the firm, outside the company or those having similar work duties and responsibilities (Al-Zawahreh and Al-Madi,2012,p.159). However, when an employee determines that there is an inequality in the rewards scheme employed by the company, it will have detrimental effects on their productivity and motivation. In the long-run, such an employee might end up looking for another working environment whereby he/she will get the equity.

According to Adams Equity theory, there exist two types of inequalities at the workplace overpayment and underpayment (Al-Zawahreh and Al-Madi,2012,p.164). An overpayment will arise when an employee feels that the reward is higher than the job performance. On the other hand, an underpayment results from a minimal compensation as compared to the performance. However, any management that can locate the perfect balance between the performances and outputs they provide will have a fruitful affiliation with employees that will see increased rates of motivation and productivity(Al-Zawahreh and Al-Madi,2012,p.164). Nevertheless, in case an employee thinks that he/she is rewarded equally for the performance and later finds out that indeed he/she is paid less might end up suffering for demotivation (Al-Zawahreh and Al-Madi,2012,p.162).

Additionally, according to Vroom's Expectancy Theory, an individual will behave in a specific manner for they will become motivated by the expected outcomes resulting from the conducts (De Simone,2015,p.19). According to an individual's expectancy, one is bound to get a reward in case the performance has brought about a positive outcome. However, in case the results of a particular performance does not go beyond the expected goals, it brings about a decline in motivation.

It is an indication that Vroom's Expectancy theory can play an essential role in reward management by a firm. In case the employees expected to receive a particular reward for their input and they end up getting way below their expectation, they end being demotivated, and this affects job productivity in the long-run. According to the instrumentality factor of the theory, employees will be highly motivated to conduct works that bring about high rewards, nevertheless, in case the company has a standardized instrumentality or compensation such as Ishbilia resort, the employee motivation in carrying out other tasks will decline (De Simone,2015,p.21). Moreover, valence determines the reward's significance from performing in a certain way (De Simone,2015,p.10). Therefore, the employees will get the motivation to perform much better in case the reward is much better. Nevertheless, if the reward has no value to performance, the employee will not provide all their efforts in accomplishing various tasks thus reducing the company's ability to achieve its goals.

Vroom's expectancy theory is essential towards the identification of the right motivator that will lead to increased job satisfaction. It helps management to interpret the employee psychologies' thus identifying what makes them decide to choose certain choices based on the results. Additionally, through this theory, it helps the employee to determine the role of the organization towards responding to their performances. The employees will have the upper hand in determining the expectations the firm will provide when it sees the increased attainment of short and long-term goals. The management will, therefore, have an ability to come up with the best rewards scheme that will match employee outcomes (De Simone,2015,p.22). In case this is not the case, it will lead to increased cases of employee turnover thus affecting the firm's ability to meet its objectives.

Conclusion

The human resource management department is an essential part of the firm. Through it, a firm can get the required human resources will play a crucial role in helping the organization achieve its short and long-term objectives. Nevertheless, the HRM must ensure that it has in place measures which will increase job satisfaction rate through controlling employee turnover, retaining and motivation. Having an active rewards management system will see the workers having high productivity rates and motivational margins. However, a company must ensure that its reward scheme matches al the employee needs. Through using Alderfer ERG theory of motivation, the management will have to group all its employee needs and determine which reward is the best for which employee. In the case of Ishbilia resort, it used a standardized rewards system that brought about increased disagreements between employees and the management. Additionally, it affected the employee productivity n motivation. Once a company determines these needs, it will have the ability to come up with a rears management scheme basing on Adams Equity theory and Vroom's Expectancy theory. According to the two theories, they emphasize on the fact that, an employee who feels the rewards do not match the performance will become demotivated and thus reduce the job productivity rates. Adams theory stresses the need for having an equal reward that will allow an employee to see there is a balance between the compensation and outputs. Inequalities will bring about misbalances thus affecting job satisfaction. Vroom's expectancy theory states that an employee will evaluate the rewards based on its valence, expectancy, and instrumentality. In case there is a misbalance, the employee will end up seeking employment whereby they will get a balance between the three factors and the incentive provided. It is, therefore, an indication that the HRM must ensure its entire employee will be rewarded basing n their performance levels.

References

Al-Zawahreh, A., & Al-Madi, F. (2012).The utility of equity theory in enhancing organizational effectiveness. European journal of economics, finance and administrative sciences, 46,158-170

Caulton, J.R. (2012). The development and use of the theory of ERG: A literature review. Emerging leadership journeys, 5(1), 2-8.

De, Simone, S. (2015). Expectancy Value Theory: Motivating Health Care Workers. American International Journal of Contemporary Research, 5(2), 19-23

Singh, A. (2005) 'HRD practices and philosophy of management in Indian organizations', Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, 30 (2), pp. 71-79.

Torrington, D., Hall, Taylot, S. & Atkinson, C. (2014) Human resource management. 9th European ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Yang, C, L., Hwang, M., & Chen, Y.C. (2012). An empirical study of the existence, relatedness and growth (ERG) theory in consumer selection of mobile value-added services. African Journal of Business Management, 5(19), 7885-7898.