Essay Sample on How Can HR Make A Strategic Contribution To This Organization?

Introduction

Human resource management, as well as its processes, is a factor that cuts across different organizations globally. The perspective of organizational operations, as well as the contribution of HR to the success of the organization, can be clarified from the case organization because it had multinational operations. McDonald's, which is the case organization, is a multinational food service retailer that operates over 31000 local restaurants with services targeting up to 56 million patrons within 118 nations (Yefet, 2006). Therefore, the international understandings, as well as the applications of human resource departments and their contributions to the organization, are clearly stated within the case organization.

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The operations at McDonald's take the form of independent franchises which functions under the conventional franchise arrangement (Tanahashi, 2008 p. 61). Through the agreement, the franchisees provide a portion of the capital for setting up the operations and equipping the operations (Merria-Webster, 2003). The company, on the other hand, owns the land the building with the option of securing long-term leases for restaurant operations. The streamlined operations for the global franchises in the organization are an indication that the practices within the organization are optimal, particularly the processes within the human resource department (Tanahashi, 2008 p. 61).

Therefore, given the global operations of McDonald's and its successes that have placed the organization among the top performers in the food and beverage industry, the report will analyze three HR issues. While there are numerous HR issues for consideration, the focus on the three issues is considering the contribution of the issues to the performance as well as the outcomes of the organization in service delivery (Walsh, Sturman & Longstreet, 2010). The problems also touch directly on the management strategies within the organization. The management strategies comprise measures that the organization implements towards the realization of goals and objectives (Sandrone, 1997). With McDonald's being within the service industry, a critical goal is customer satisfaction, which ultimately contributes to the profitability of the organization as well as its relevance within the industry as a leading service provider (Deloitte, 2010 p. 6).

The first issue under consideration is the issue of recruitment and retention within the organization. The issue is a combination of two HR issues that both lead to the workforce within the organization. Additionally, the process ensures that the organization aligns the skills sets that are available within the pool of prospective employees to the requirements of the open position in the workplace (Argote & Ingram, 2000 p. 152). Ultimately, recruitment is the first issue in the dual processes of recruitment and retention. The case organization uses various channels that include career fairs to advertise for open positions and encourage the applications of individuals whose skills match the requirements of the open positions within the organization. Retention, on the other hand, serves the purpose of minimizing staff turnover to cut on the costs that go into the process of recruitment and training (Nawaz, 2011 p. 5542).

A second HR issue under consideration in the report concerns the training aspects that contribute to the success of the organization along with the performance of the employees (Carmeli & Tishler, 2004 p. 1260). Since training directly aligns to the third issue of productivity and performance management within the organization, the aspects that the organization considers in the process of training contribute to the productivity (Taris, & Schreurs, 2009 p. 121). Some of the factors include employee certification before recruitment, in addition to the in-house training that is tailored according to the needs and positions of the employees to ensure optimal performance.

Recruitment and Retention

One critical function of human resource is staff acquisition as well as retention. The recruitment process works towards staff acquisition. The goal of adding to the members of staff within the organization can range from complementing the existing workforce to replacing the members of staff who the organization loses through natural attrition. The recruitment process is thus riddled with challenges that include defining the correct skills for a given position and working to match the skills to the job applicants within the marketplace (Coff, 1997 p. 378). The human resource department not only has to find the right skills for an open position but also to blend in personality motivation for the individuals even from a large pool of applicants.

Retention is also important in the organization considering the costs that go into the recruitment process and orientation once an organization loses employees of value (Ulrich & Smallwood, 2005 p. 139). The recruitment and training process aims at preparing the employees for optimal performance once they take up the open positions. However, the organization has to input resources in the process of employee acquisition through the advertisement of open positions, in addition to the financing that goes into providing the training resources for the employees. It is, therefore, a critical responsibility for the human resource department to work on ensuring that the workers' needs are met within the organization so that they remain productive members of the team (Paauwe, Guest & Wright, 2013).

Ultimately, the contemporary practice in most organization forms the basis for measuring the performance of the human resource segment of the organization. Regarding recruitment, the measures that determine the success of human resource in realizing its objectives while aligning its strategy with the expectation of the organization takes a two-factor view in the analysis and description (Sabir, 2010). The first measure is, therefore, the average time that the human resource department takes to fill an open position within the organization (McDonald's, 2008 p. 7). Ultimately, the measure is estimated in the number of vacant-days for the team. A second measure is a percentage of the new hires within the organization who achieve up to six months of service as a measure of workforce retention within the organization (Deloitte, 2010 p. 6).

At McDonald's organization, the acquisition of talented members of the workforce, as well as their retention, is essential to the operations within the organization. The importance of workforce recruitment and retention in the organization is to the extent that the organization has put in place a framework that allows for the communication of the employees in what the organization terms as 'under the Arches.' The framework allows the owners and the top management within the organization to not only attracts top talent for the various roles and responsibilities but to also retain the top talents once they are members of the organization.

Additionally, the organization has over time established a global plan for talent management. The plan operates under the support of robust talent identification for the recruiters within the organization. An additional end for the plan involves succession planning along with leadership development during the process of staffing in the organization.

Training and Compliance

While it is essential to provide the employees with the workplace rules and regulations, it is also essential that the workforce understands the requirements of their position are they are stipulated within their different job descriptions. The path towards employees understanding the requirements of their position, in addition to the protocols of operations, takes the format of training and development. Ultimately training is important for the education of the employee, in addition to establishing the guarantee that the employee can give their best to the organization through their productivity (Taris, & Schreurs, 2009 p. 121).

Practices toward employee training include the requirement for certification. For the organizations that rely on the certification of the employee, an important consideration is to follow up on the certified skills that the employees present, in addition to tracking the information within the records of the organization. Additional measures that contribute to the training aspect so that the employees understand the operating procedures for their positions include in-house training, along with paying for the employees to take examinations in outside entities for certification.

Since training is vital for all organizations, the performance of HR also takes into consideration the measures they take to track the training as well as the compliance of the employee. The measures for different organizations for the performance of HR in training and development, therefore, take different forms and measurements. The first consideration in the measures is the average hours that every employee takes in the training process (McDonald's, 2008 p. 7). The information is available from the training records which are in the custody of the human resource department. A separate measure in training for different organizations is the percentage of satisfaction that each trainee obtains from the participation in the various training modules that the organization issues for the employees (Deloitte, 2010 p. 6).

McDonald's, the case organization recognizes that the process of training and recruitment is costly for the organization. The organization, therefore, strives to minimize the cost of training and recruitment through is measures in minimizing staff turnover within the organization (Nawaz, 2011 p. 5542). The process of reducing staff turnover aligns with the previous HR issue of retaining, once the organization obtains top talent. However, the aspect that complements retaining of the members of staff within the organization involves the processes that gear towards obtaining the right set of skills for the workforce within the organization (Huselid, 1995 p. 640).

In working towards the end of ensuring that the organization has the right set of skills among the workforce, the human resource department combines the issue of recruitment with the process of training to obtain individuals who desire to excel in the delivery of outstanding service within the organization. The process of training and compliance takes the format of certification. The organization thus works towards identifying the essential skills within the pool of job applicants in addition to the crucial behaviors that align with the goal of the organization (Argote & Ingram, 2000 p. 152). The process involves matching the job description for an open position, with the personal skills as well as competencies that the ideal candidate must demonstrate before recruitment. The organization also offers on-going training that is relevant to the position of the employee within the organization.

Productivity and Performance Management

In line with productivity and performance management, organizations have a high reliance on the HR team to ensure that the organization meets its goals and objectives. The productivity of the organization is measured in the number of new clients along with the levels of profitability for the various strategies of the organization (McDonald's, 2008 p. 7). An additional measure of productivity within the organization is in the form of the objectives and goal of the organization. In line with the goal and objectives of the organization, productivity assessment involves an analysis of the employees' contribution to realizing the goal of the organization.

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