Human
resources management and regulations.
Human
resource is being regulated by various laws in the country which is amended
accordingly from time to time to suit the current needs of the country and
society. The new employment relationship
gives the human resource staff the opportunity to become more active in
corporate strategy by quantifying the impact of training programs on the bottom
line. That is where the integration of
human resources is critical to the business partnership. Another evolving role will be more familiar.
Throughout the downsizing era, human resource professionals saw their role
shift from that of employee advocate to
helping management cut staff. Now it is time to shift the focus back. Good human resource people have to focus on
how to balance being a strategic partner with being an employee advocate.
HR Management
The efficient management of
human resources is critical to achieving excellence. Therefore, in today’s
working world, efforts will continue to be taken to increase the number of
skilled and knowledgeable workers who are technology-oriented, particularly in
information technology. Measures to
strengthen the quality of the workforce through training and upgrading of
skills will also be undertaken. The private sector had been urged to support
and complement the public sector initiatives. In this regard, the establishment
of new institutions of higher learning by the private sector is encouraged. The
government had stressed to private sector management in particular, the need
for a shift in paradigm towards better investment in people and the management
of knowledge workers to attain greater competitiveness in the global market in
the near future.
People and Performance
Human
resources management is not restricted to hiring and firing, and preparation of
payroll only. As times goes on the HR
function expanded to the to cover selection, training and promotion. Another difficult task to be performed by HR
is to protect the firm in its interaction with unions.
Today, HR
plays more important role in the firm as strategic partner and agent for change. In today’s high-performing organization in
the competitive market, HR play an important role to deliver highly trained and
committed employees which will be the firm’s competitive key. Manager and supervisor in today’s market do
accept the fact that the employee is the main asset of the company. Thereby through HR involvement in strategy is
necessary to ensure that human resource support the organization’s mission.
HR and Employee Commitment
HR give
impact to employee’s performance by providing motivational methodology towards
achieving committed employee through teamwork and ensuring two-way
communication to foster commitment. HR
need to be committed to ensure employees that fair treatment of all employee’s grievances and disciplinary
concerns.
Two way
communications foster commitment, firms
like Federal Express and Toyota in US have installed HR programs that guarantee
two-way communications and fair treatment of all employees grievances and
disciplinary concerns. High commitment
firms also tend to engage in employee development practices, which aim to
ensure that employees can use all their skills and gifts at work.
Employee behavior is especially
important in the performance of service
firms like banks. If a customer is
confronted by a sales person who is tactless, unprepared or give-up to discuss
the pros and cons of the different products, or even worst downright
discourteous due to low morale, all the banks other efforts will have been
wasted. Banks is service firm which has
little to sell but their good service.
That makes them very dependent on the employees’ attitudes and
motivation – and the senior management.
HR and Performance
Similar to
other departments, human resource managers must be able to use data and other
resources available in their unit within their constraints to forecast outcomes
and become real partners with higher management. In essence, HR departments must be able to
show how they add value to the company.
It must be noted and recognized that the job of human resource
professionals is continuously evolving along with any other job and trends that
are emerging. So much so that human
resource will have to be proactive within their constraint to contribute
towards the bottom line of the organization.
HR will not only measure others performance but to include themselves in
the assessment. Then only that they can
contribute towards a package to pay employees based on performance.
Retaining Employees
Salary is not everything to make
employees stay, even though salary can be one of the criteria. HR management must accept the facts that
other organizations can also offer attractive salaries including fringe
benefits. Managers have to compensate
employees beyond salary increases.
The efficient management of
human resources is critical to achieving excellence. Therefore, in today’s
working world efforts will continue to be taken to increase the number of
skilled and knowledgeable workers who are technology-oriented, particularly in
information technology. Measures to
strengthen the quality of the workforce through training and upgrading of
skills will also be undertaken. The private sector had been urged to support
and complement the public sector initiatives. In this regard, the establishment
of new institutions of higher learning by the private sector is encouraged. The
government had stressed to private
sector management in particular, the need for a shift in paradigm towards
better investment in people and the management of knowledge workers to attain
greater competitiveness in the global market in the near future.
Emphasize career development
Employees
have to be encouraged to consider improving their education and offer tuition
reimbursement if their selected course of study can benefit the organization in
the long run. Be sure to set up a system
that ensures employees will not leave once they obtained their degrees. Provide opportunities for employees to attend
seminars that will improve their skills.
Hold in-house seminars if cost permits.
To foster career guidance, set up a mentorship program in your company
that pairs high level executives with young professionals. Of course all the
above should be organized within the constraints and resources available.
Legal trends affecting HR management
Due to
uncertain new happenings in the labor industry, many new laws continue to be
passed which effectively limit managers’
actions. The equal employment
opportunity laws bar discrimination on the basis of race, age, disability,
religion, sex or national origin. HR
management need to give assistance to other managers on the various legal
constraints such as mandated health benefits, occupational safety and health
requirement and union-management relation’s laws.
Defining Human Resource Accounting
Human resource
accounting (HRA) as an approach was originally defined as the process of
identifying, measuring and communicating information about human resources in
order to facilitate effective management within an organization. It is an
extension of the accounting principles of matching costs and revenues and of
organizing data to communicate relevant information in financial terms.
The
accounting of human resources can be seen as just as much a question of
philosophy as of technique. This is one of the reasons behind the variety of
approaches and is further underlined by the broad range of purposes for which
accounting human resources can be used, e.g. as an information tool for
internal and/or external use (employees, customers, investors, etc.), and as a
decision-making tool for human resource management (investments in human
resources as well as personnel management in general).
The Challenge to Human Resource
Until
recently, the "value" of an enterprise as measured within traditional
balance sheets, e.g. buildings, production plant, etc., was viewed as a
sufficient reflection of the enterprise's assets.
However, with the growing
emergence of the knowledge economy, this traditional valuation has been called
into question due to the recognition that human capital is an increasingly
important part of an enterprise's total value. This has led to two important
questions: how to assess the value of
human capital in addition to an enterprise's tangible assets and how to improve the development of human
capital in enterprises. The emergence of methods for accounting human resources
aimed at measuring, developing and managing the human capital in an enterprise,
can thus be said to reflect the need for improving measuring and accounting
practices as well as human resource management.
Conflicts Between Malaysian Workers and Foreign Managers
Conflicts between Malaysian
workers and a foreign company manager were due to certain differences as
follows:
·
Working hours
·
Religion : Friday prayers, Fasting month, Festivals
·
Educational Background
·
Culture, Attitudes & Values
·
Different Expectations
·
Treatment of foreign workers in Malaysia
·
Visions - High concern for productivity, low concern
for people
Religious Factor
Foreign company manager
will sure be aware of Malaysian regulations which pertains to employee and
employer relationships, may not in detail but in general. Besides the written laws, there are expected
implied laws which are approved by employers from local companies such as
matters relating to the various religious believe in Malaysia. For example as a Muslim male shall require
more than one hour lunch break on every Friday to perform Friday’s
prayers. During the fasting month all
Muslim staff would be happy if their employer allow them to work through the
lunch hour and release them an hour earlier end of the day. Likewise the Chinese staff will need an
off-day for the Chinese New Year eve, otherwise they will be required to be in
their house for an early family dinner by 5.00 p.m., therefore the superior
will need to give time off for them be back home early.
For a production company,
foreign company manager may require the factory to close down for long break
for the workers and maintenance of the machine during the Christmas and New
Year eve, however the Malaysian workers wish to have a long break during the
local festival such as Malay Hari Raya or the Chinese New Year. The foreign company manager may want to have
the break to go back to his country, however likewise the local wish to
celebrate long holidays during local festive at their provinces or villages.
Another problem faced by
the foreign company manager during the relationship with the Malaysian workers
is the difference in culture, behavior and work habits. Most Malaysian workers are backed by local
culture of soft spoken and not direct in pointing out certain errors of
subordinates and not at all to point out mistakes of superiors. Whereas the foreign managers from the
developed nations like United State and United Kingdom are used to be direct on
pointing out critiques. Even there are corporate culture in many organization
that practice openness where the subordinates may also remind their bosses.
Protection from change
As
information becomes the most valuable commodity in society, organizations are
changing faster and more frequently than the employees who work for them.
Indeed, there often is a perception that employers change for the sole purpose
of changing. In many organizations, employees
believe that change takes place without regard to its effect on professional
goals or personal lives. Compounding the problem, the change may be part of a
program of total quality management that has lofty goals but, in effect,
conveys the message that employees can never do enough.
A number of
things can be done to minimize the adverse effects of change, involving
employees in the change process can be helpful. Also helpful is giving
employees advance notice of changes so they have time to adjust, explaining the
reasons for changes, and timing changes so that employees are not
disproportionately affected.
Unions
One strong
reason or excuse employees find unions attractive is the sense that the
employer cannot be relied on to keep promises. Broken promises not only fuel
the desire for unionization; they also make the union's election campaign
easier. A foreign employer that cannot keep a promise should explain why. One
way to ensure that broken promises do
not fester is through formal employee attitude surveys.
Many major
companies were shifting priorities, employees needed to know what new skills
would be needed, and business would have to clearly define those requirements
and anticipate business would have to clearly define those requirements and
anticipate the big trends quickly. Companies
should bring together a group of companies to discuss common interests in which
they did not compete. They need to come
up with new models for shared success. That idea developed over time into the
Talent Alliance, a private, not-for-profit coalition established in Morristown,
N.J., by several companies including AT&T, DuPont, Johnson & Johnson,
Unisys, NCR Corp. and TRW.
Employees as commodities
There are
times that foreign companies in Malaysia, due to some internal reasons of
theirs or due to tax incentive purposes, move their operations to other
countries and thereby downsize their current operations while a newly form
entity will be incorporated with new
products and services or additional products and services. When this occurs these companies which are
normally highly equipped with better technologies then the local companies will
have an online database to :
1.
Match applicants from downsizing companies with
available jobs at other member companies.
2.
Have “lease
link” system that allows member companies to lease needed employees with special expertise from others
in the alliance.
3.
Prepare program
for career growth center that offers counseling,
networking, interviewing and negotiating.
4.
Have a research forum for job trends and workplace issues.
5.
Training and education will be conducted within their
alliance. The training and education will focus on skills for interpersonal
leadership and networking. It will include video conference seminars to reach
employees around the country and training programs on CD-ROM.
Companies
have focused on downsizing and jobs that are going away and the real issue is
not to focus on jobs that are obsolete. We need to make people employable for
life. That’s one reason skills are at the center of the alliance’s mission.
This good
and beneficial idea of the foreign managers are not well informed to the local
employees and as such their perception is that they are being traded as
commodities and their thinking being brought back to the slavery and colonial
days. Foreign employers should inform
their employees of their intention once they finalize the issue of downsize or
shifting their operations. Employers
should explain their long term goals or plans to the employees stressing the
benefits expected to be enjoyed over the restructure process despite the minor
disruption over a short term period.
Explanation should be done through the formal channel and also the
informal ways. If situation permits
representative form the employee to be invited in the discussion on the
relevant subject matter.
Give and Take
Companies
throughout the country are examining employees’ need for lifetime employability
and continuous development of skills. After years of downsizing, rightsizing,
reengineering and restructuring, employers and employees are coming to terms
with each other in new and complex ways, leading to what some call the new
employment pact.
The
expectation of lifetime employment at one company is mostly a thing of the
past, and the evolving agreement—which no one has clearly defined yet—is based
on the company’s financial and market success.
Typically, employers who want more productivity, innovation and
commitment are finding they must do more than tell employees they will have a
job as long as they help the company make money—or until the business changes.
Wary employees are willing to
give more, but in return they want career security. That means training to
improve their skills for the next job; performance-based compensation including
bonus plans, incentives and stock options to give them a stake in the company’s
success; and portable benefit and retirement plans. Along the way, companies will also address
increased job flexibility, telecommuting and family-care issues. UNUM Corp., a Portland, Maine, firm that
sells disability insurance, provides career counseling and training for
employees, as well as stock options that are redeemable if the company meets
its goals.
A focus on continuous learning
Companies are changing and people have to know what skills will be required. That means human resource departments need to set new standards for collaboration and continuous learning. While all companies need to provide more employee training and career development under the new terms of employment, continuous learning and increased skills are vital in the fast-changing high technology industry. Employers need to keep skill levels up to meet changing customer needs, therefore employee development is an integral part of company policy. Many companies embarked on quite an intense look at this.
In addition to enhanced
compensation, top performers are to
receive added educational and networking opportunities, such as a week at the
Foreign School of Business for leadership programs. Nestle’s in Malaysia increased
sales force was accompanied by a shift in the way its employees are
compensated. The human resource staff serves as the lead team in setting
pay-related goals. They have evolved
into much more of a performance-for-reward company. There are measurable goals people have to
accomplish in order to get paid incentives.
Human
resource personnel will have to work closely with the management team to meet
strategic needs and to understand what business the company is in, what kind of
skills are needed, and what the employee population needs to ensure success in
the business. Employees have a keen
interest in training and keeping themselves marketable and without career
development opportunities, employer would not be able to retain employees,
obviously.
There is no
guarantee by the employer to the employee and vice versa on what will be the
future, usually, employees do not have the opportunity to get their skills
up. When the company posts a job, the
job is there now, which is good for people with those skills. The career trends
give them a vision for what’s hot in the future, so they can set a course of
development, plan and get the skills necessary for the jobs of the future, with
the present employer or a new employer.
There are things that an employer can provide that distinguish it from
everyone else in the marketplace and make it a place employee want to work and
they had to be the employers’ of choice.
The company provides the
training, but employees “own” their career development, if they want to work and progress, they’ve
got to keep their skills current and updated, understand the business the
company is in, the requirement and how the company makes money.
Forging a business partnership
One major
concern under the new employment pact is finding a way to focus employees on
the financial success of the company and explain that jobs and salary increases
are subject to that success, without creating an adversarial relationship. The
challenge for HR is finding a way to meet the needs of both employers and
employees and develop a business partnership.
Articulating the terms of the deal is the place to start, since
companies must acknowledge that they are offering employees different deals,
and that there is no one employment relationship, even in the same company, the
relationship turns on which employees are contributing directly to a company’s
financial success—who is really core, or who are the people who deliver the
most value to the customer. While all
employees may be valuable, at some point management has to tell employees who
is “core” and who is not. But as
companies merge and change product lines, what is core today may be peripheral
tomorrow.
Employees
and managers have shifted roles to accommodate the changing workplace. Companies that progress very well will sure
to increase their workforce may be five or ten fold. As the number of employees per manager
increased, managers became responsible for establishing overall department
goals and the context in which employees do their jobs. The employees, who are
closer to the daily needs, are responsible for developing the work initiatives
and reviewing them with management.
Many HR
consultants said that the onus is on the employee. It’s a shift of responsibility from the
manager to the employee to take ownership for the job, learning and progress
the career.
In today
modern world, human resource department
has also shifted its emphasis, focusing more on business strategy, partnering
and training. The training budget
increased to keep up with all the people.
The company relies on shared services whenever possible and is in the
process of outsourcing as much as possible of its administrative
transactions. That’s not a money maker
and other people can do those things better and less expensively. Therefore part of the training program are
being outsourced eventhough the company relies on management staff for core
competency as well as identifying and training employees to meet the future
needs of the company.
Paying for performance
The trend
toward pay for performance is another hallmark of the new employment agreement,
and cash incentive and stock option plans are especially useful in keeping
company stars. Employees who are skilled and able to generate ideas will do
well. They will be more like free
agents, and will stay as long as they benefit.
Stock Options
High technology and big companies frequently
rely on stock options to attract quality employees and to connect the employee’s
work future to the company. Stock
options have turned more employees into millionaires, debt free, reduce housing loan outstanding
and many were able to go for overseas vacations. The company stock were being given to
employees based on their ranks. Therefore
most employees will struggle to compete to get promoted in order to benefit on
the employee share option scheme.
Loosing Stake
This is one
of the trend of employers retaining employees, however some foreign own
companies refuse to float their shares as they might have to let go may be
about 40% of their holdings eventhough they still have the controlling
stake. This issue too became a conflict
issue between local employees and the foreign management of the company. Employees envied neighboring company staff
who had the opportunity for extra income which there are times is more than
their yearly bonus from the employees share option scheme when their company is
listed at the stock exchange.
There are
employees who have been with the company for a long time have done very well.
Keeping the stars requires a creative mix of substantial stock options and non
monetary benefits such as allowing telecommuting and flexible hours. Awards and incentives are given to top
performers in the company. These reward
may not direct monetary benefits as bonuses attracted income tax, whereas
profit form stock options are tax free.
High Concern for Production
All
managers are concern for
production. Most employees are
also concern for production especially when their performance are correlated to
productivity. However local employees
are not happy with the foreign managers who have low concern for people. The employees expect the management standard
to be high concern for production and at the same time maintain a standard of
high concern for people too. There are
various matters for the foreign manager to take note of in order to have high
standard of concern for people. Some locals
consider that pay is not everything.
Guiding Principles
A conflict
should be resolved skillfully. A conflict, when happened may bring about
benefits to the company as it may bring about changes. As such when a conflict
is taken in a very positive way it can be a blessings. Conflicts when solved,
means:-
- Gain
cooperation from team members
- Improve
performance and productivity
- Reduce
stress and preserve integrity
- Solve
problems as quickly as possible
- Improve
relationships and teamwork
- Enhance
creativity
- Increase
staff morale
Resolving Conflict
Situations
To manage
conflict effectively a superior must be a skilled communicator. That includes
creating an open communication environment in his unit by encouraging employees
to talk about work issues. Listening to employee concerns will foster an open
environment. The superior must make sure that he really understand what
employees are saying by asking questions and focusing on their perception of
the problem.
Whether
there two employees who are fighting for the desk next to the window or one
employee who wants the heat on and another who doesn't, an immediate response
to conflict situations is essential. Notwithstanding the conflicts between
fellow employees, there are also managers who are in direct conflict with
employees. Good managers though have no prejudice. Good managers usually have
some basic guidelines in solving conflicts whether it’s a conflict between
employees or a conflict between the manager and an employee.
Foreign
managers should see certain things positively for the benefit of the
organization even to the extend to sacrifice certain home rules in order to
accommodate local workers as long as no compromise on job function which direct
or indirectly effect productivity.
Whatever
conflict that may arise, HR management must attend to the issue. Immediate response to conflict situations is
essential. Some ways to resolve
conflicts are as follows:
- Acknowledging the existence of
a difficult situation. Honesty
and clear communication play an important role in the resolution
process. Acquaint yourself with
what's happening and be open about the problem.
- Individuals should be allowed
to express their feelings. Some feelings of anger and/or hurt
usually accompany conflict situations.
Before any kind of problem-solving can take place, these emotions
should be expressed and acknowledged.
- A clear definition of the
problem must be established. What is the stated problem? What is the negative impact on the work
or relationships? Are differing
personality styles part of the problem?
Meet with employees separately at first and discuss about the
situation.
- Determine underlying need. The goal of conflict resolution is not
to decide who is right or wrong; the goal is to reach a solution that
everyone can live with and the functions in the organization keep going. Looking first for needs, rather than
solutions, is a powerful tool for generating win/win options. To discover needs, you must try to find
out why people want the solutions they initially proposed. Once you understand the advantages their
solutions have for them, you have discovered their needs.
- Find common areas of
agreement, no matter how small:
·
Agree on the problem
·
Agree on the procedure to follow
·
Agree on worst fears
·
Agree on some small change to give an experience of
success
- Find solutions to satisfy
needs:
·
Problem-solve by generating multiple alternatives
·
Determine which actions will be taken
·
Make sure involved parties buy into actions. (Total
silence may be a sign of passive resistance.) Be sure you get real agreement
from everyone.
- Determine follow-up you will
take to monitor actions. You may want to schedule a follow-up
meeting in about two weeks to determine how the parties are doing.
- Determine what you'll do if
the conflict goes unresolved. If the conflict is causing a disruption
in the department and it remains unresolved, you may need to explore other
avenues. An outside
facilitator may be able to offer
other insights on solving the problem. In some cases the conflict becomes
a performance issue, and may become a topic for coaching sessions,
performance appraisals, or disciplinary action.
Dealing With Anger
When you
meet with someone who is angry, especially on issues that are sensitive to
race, culture or country, you may need
to use the tools of effective listening to help defuse this anger. Nevertheless, when anger is directed to a
person, it is much more difficult to respond definitively, because that
particular person’s own emotions are usually involved.
To
effectively defuse anger, keep in mind the needs of the angry speaker:
- To vent. An angry person needs to let off steam
and release the anger that may have been brewing for a long time. The
manager who is suppose to be better qualified and more experience may need
to use his experience communication skills to allow the subordinate to let
off whatever is his mind.
- To get the listener's
attention. An angry person
wants to know that the opponent is paying attention, so use your body
language to show this.
- To be heard. An angry person wants someone to listen
to his point of view. Acknowledge
the feelings you hear so that the speaker knows you appreciate how angry
she is.
- To be understood. An angry person wants someone to
appreciate how he feels. Try to
empathize with her experience so that he feels you understand the
situation, and acknowledge her right to feel the way he does.
When you're listening to an angry person:
- Be attentive and patient. Keep in mind that he will become less
angry as we let him express himself.
- Be sincere. Empathy and validation must be both
honest and genuine.
- Be calm. Try to remove your own emotions from the
discussion. Remember that an angry
person may say inflammatory things in the heat of the moment, but we do
not have to react angrily.
Summary
In most
conflicts, neither party is right or wrong; instead, different perceptions
collide to create disagreement. Conflict is natural and it's up to you to
respond to conflict situations quickly and professionally. Conflict can be very
positive; if you deal with it openly, you can strengthen your work unit by
correcting problems. Conflicting views give you a chance to learn more about
yourself, explore views of others, and develop productive relationships. Clear
and open communication is the cornerstone of successful conflict resolution for
progress of the company. Open conflicts
may be better than silent protest which will not benefit the organization.
