Discuss about the Human Resource Management for Career Development.
Human resource management is a concept that allows business organisations to manage their workforce in the best possible manner using various functions, such as performance management, career development, training and development, etc. Human resource management helps in optimising the performance of the workforce by improving the overall work conditions and fostering better relations between employees and employers.
Ethics are moral principles that governs the behaviour of a person or an organisation and helps them in differentiating between what’s right and what’s wrong (What is ethics?, n.d.). In the past few years, the term business ethics has gained a lot of important as it is related with moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment.
One of the most important functions in human resource management is job or work design that involves preparing the contents of a job. In short, it is a process in which human resource managers decide the duties, responsibilities, compensations, benefits, etc. for a job. Another part of job design is related with the strategies that the human resource management undertakes to reduce employee dissatisfaction and to keep them engaged in the workplace and their respective jobs (Job Design – Meaning, Steps and its Benefits, n.d.).
As discussed above, human resource management is an approach that helps an organisation in dealing with all its human elements in the workplace. Without a doubt, human resource management is one particular sector where ethics have a very crucial role to play as it is related with the management of human resources and issues related to compensation, benefits, development, industrial relations and safety issues (Ethics in Human Resource Management, n.d.). As human resource managers have to deal with issues related to the people working in the workplace and have to design working conditions for them, an unethical behaviour can lead to legal trouble for a company. Further, all countries have their own employment and labour laws that have been formulated to protect the interests of the employees and to prevent unethical behaviour towards them. Therefore, it becomes important for business organisations to behave ethically towards their employees because it’s not just about the reputation of the company but it is an important part of its corporate social responsibility towards the employees (Ingram, n.d.).
Ethics play a major role when the human resource management of a company has to design a job and work for a particular post. When the management is undertaking the designing procedure of a job post, it is important that they act ethically and design it in such a way that it cannot cause any legal trouble for the company and is also fair and just if viewed from an employee’s perspective.
A lot of researcher have put in efforts to study the issues that are related to the design of jobs and work in the subject of human resource management. Many scholars have identified a number of issues, such as compensation and benefits, staffing, flexibility of the jobs, etc. that are encountered during the design of a job or a work.
According to Boselie, Dietz and Boon, job or work design is the process that allows business organisations to implement strategies which can help them in bringing down the level of employee dissatisfaction in the organisation (Boselie, Dietz & Boon, 2005). They also add that the main objective of designing a job or a work is to ensure continuous and high productivity from the employees. Gerhart suggested that it is crucial during the design of a job or a work that the content is considered as an important aspect of the job. He also adds that the factors that are able to keep the employees motivated should be given an extra weightage in the design process (Gerhart, 2005). Piccolo et al also contributed in the literature by identifying a major ethical issue that is related to job and work design. He identified an ethical issue where some organisations were manipulating the job design and work design so that they could attract better candidates in their recruitment programs (Piccolo et al, 2010)
Zhu, May and Avolio suggest that the process of job design and work design should be done by taking the competencies and qualifications of the aspirants into consideration. Another key issue that has been explored in the literature and that related to job design or work design is the level of performance. To ensure better performance in the workplace, business organisations should include a number of variables that are related with performance of the employees and should relate to motivation factors, such as promotion, compensation, job satisfaction, etc..
As discussed above, job or work design is one of the most important core functions under human resource management and a lot of productivity and efficiency of a business organisation is dependent on the way in which it carries out the designing procedure of its job. Involving ethics into the process of job or work design can greatly help business organisations in becoming more competitive and productive because of the following reasons:
First of all, choosing an ethical approach in the preparation of job or work design can help business organisations in finding the right fit for the desired job openings. Not only an ethically designed job or work will attract talented pool of candidates but will also increase the reputation of a company in the market and will help it in becoming an employer of choice.
Secondly, involving ethics into job and work design can help companies in improving the work conditions for the employees and to increase the level of organisational commitment amongst them. When the employees will feel that their jobs have been ethically designed and that the company itself has an ethical approach towards managing them, they will become more committed to the organisation in return and might even enter into a psychological contract where they would try to contribute maximum efforts towards the achievement of organisational goals and objectives in exchange of an ethical behaviour that the company has towards them.
Thirdly, one of the major benefits of involving ethics in job and work design is that the business organisations are able to bring down the employee turnover rates or increase the retention rates to a great extent. Involving ethics in job or work design helps human resource managers in providing better working conditions, such as optimum working hours, better work life balance, fair compensation and benefits, etc. and a positive work environment to the employees which keeps the employees motivated and committed towards their companies. As a result of the positive working conditions that the employees experience, they are less likely to quit their companies, which in turn van help a company in bringing down its operational costs, avoiding frequent recruitment and selection programs, having a greater pool of talented employees, etc.
Fourthly, being ethical in designing jobs and work will help business organisations in increasing their employees’ performance levels. By becoming more ethical, the company will be able to lead its employees by setting an example and the employees will follow in their lead. They will also behave ethically towards the other stakeholders and will demonstrate better performance in order to contribute more towards the achievement of organisational goals and objectives.
Some of the above mentioned literature reviews provide a great insight into the process of job and work design and some important issues that are encountered by human resource managers when they design jobs or work. A major gap that has been discovered in the literature is that the role of ethics in the design of jobs and work has been under researched and should be given a greater importance in the future. There are certain research articles that have still not been able to incorporate the role that ethics have to play in job design and work design, which acts as a major gap in the study.
Conclusion
In the present day world of modern business, the market competition is rising to extreme levels and customers want to get associated with the companies that have ethical business practices towards all their stakeholders. In such tough times, it is important for business organisations to not only have an ethical approach towards their customers and business partners but also towards their employees, who are one of the most important stakeholders in the business. In order to ensure a better ethical approach in job and work design, more research should be done in the field and along with the participation of the employees, scholars should try to study the role that ethics play in job design and work design and try to make the process more effective.
Boselie, P., Dietz, G., & Boon, C. (2005). Commonalities and Contradiction in HRM and Performance Research. Human Resource Management Journal, 15: 67-94
Ethics in Human Resource Management. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from www.managementstudyguide.com: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/ethics-in-human-resource-management.htm
Gerhart, B. (2005). Human Resources and Business Performance. Findings, unanswered questions, and an alternative approach. Management Revue, 16: 117-185.
Ingram, D. (n.d.). The Importance of Ethics in Human Resources. Retrieved April 17, 2017, from smallbusiness.chron.com: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-ethics-human-resources-12780.html
Foley, P. (2014, May 30). Ethics and HR Departments need to work together. Retrieved April 17, 2017, from www.ethicalcorp.com: https://www.ethicalcorp.com/people-careers/ethics-and-hr-departments-need-work-together
Budd, J. W., & Scoville, J. G. (2005). The Ethics of Human Resources and Industrial Relations (1 ed.). USA.
, K. B. (n.d.). Ethical Issues of Job Design. Retrieved April 17, 2017, from www.acowtancy.com: https://www.acowtancy.com/textbook/acca-p3/h2-strategy-and-people-job-design/ethical-issues-related-to-job-design/notes
Job Design – Meaning, Steps and its Benefits. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from www.managementstudyguide.com: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/job-design.htm
Piccolo, R.F., Greenbaum, R., Den Hartog, D.N. & Folger, R. (2010). The relationship between ethical leadership and core job characteristics. Journal of Organizational Behaviour 31: 259–278.
What is ethics? (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from www.bbc.co.uk: https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/intro_1.shtml
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