Discuss about the Human Resource Practices and Innovation.
In the modern era, employees or staff members are considered as most vital and valuable assets of any business enterprise. Furthermore, the smooth and effective functioning of human resources results in providing a competitive advantage to organizations (Ketchen Jr, Crook, Todd, Combs, & Woehr, 2017). At the same time, employees also contribute to long-term growth and sustainability of companies. However, it can be critically argued that effective management of human resources is not an easy task as organizations are required to deal with various problems and challenges.
The present study is based on The Social Support Agency (SSA) which is a government based agency. The main role of this agency is to provide support to individuals regarding counselling, social work, income and other related areas. This report outlines the main HR issues which have been faced by The Social Support Agency. In addition to this, the HR activities which can support in dealing with the issue and getting competitive advantage are also mentioned in this study.
The Social Support Agency offices are mainly located in regional centres and metropolitan areas of the country. All the employees working in this agency emphasize on delivering adequate support services to clients and customers. Furthermore, it can be stated that the assistance is provided in both monetary as well as non-monetary form. As per the provided case scenario, areas such as Eastwood are facing issues such as high degree of unemployment. The role of The Social Support Agency is to provide financial and consultancy support and assistance to unemployed people in the best possible manner.
Over the past few years, the Social Support Agency is now facing several issues linked with the management of human resources. The provided case outlines that the critical issue which has been faced by The Social Support Agency is related to the aging workforce. It can be stated that the as compared to young employees, the aging workforce is less productive (Liu, Gong, Zhou, & Huang, 2017). Increase rate of the aging workforce is a grave concern for all the organizations operating in the country. The rationale behind this is that companies face difficulties regarding hiring skilled and talented personnel. On the other side of this, aging workforce is also not able to contribute the desired amount of output in growth and success of organizations (Welch & Björkman, 2015).
Regarding The Social Support Agency, aging workforce is a grave concern because it will create obstacle for the agency regarding delivering fast, effective and satisfactory services to all its clients. Another issue which has been faced by The Social Support Agency is linked to the attracting quality candidates to deliver adequate services to all employees. It is expected that the majority of the employees with the agency are about to reach their age of retirement and thus, the agency will face problem linked with a shortage of workers. It can be stated that areas such as sales, profitability, and growth will be affected adversely due to the shortage of employees within the agency (Stone, 2013).
The provided case scenario also outlines that lack of efficient and strict HR policy has also become a fundamental problem of The Social Support Agency. For example, the agency has employed six new people for its office located in Eastwood. However, after few days a new employee named Maryam resigned from the post. The main reason behind her resignation was that she was getting physically assault and verbally abused by the clients of the agency. At the same time, Anti Muslim comments were made against her, and this affected her morale and motivational level workforce.
On the other side of this, practices such as threat, abuse and discrimination were also carried out within the workplace. This can be justified by the example of Joseph who explained that other staff members working in The Social Support Agency have racially abused him. However, it can be argued that Joseph was not at all interested in reporting the issue and make a big deal of the same. The HR department of the agency was not at all aware of these issues and this created problems for the entire agency (Varma, 2013). In the end, the HR received two more notice of resignation including Joseph and one other guy.
In the modern era, effective and strict practices are essential for long-term growth and success of an enterprise. Furthermore, if the employee issues are not taken seriously, then the business may face obstacles regarding accomplishing their aim and objectives. The rate of employee turnover tends to increase in situations where HR related issues are not taken seriously (Tracey, et al., 2015). It has been found that abusive and rude behaviour of clients was an ongoing problem within The Social Support Agency and the manager Geoff explained that the best way to deal with this issue is to ensure that the new employees do not come in direct contact with these clients. However, it can be critically argued that the suggestion provided by the general manager Geoff cannot be considered as a long-term solution to the problem (Klikauer, 2014). It is required by the top and middle-level management to develop effective strategies and action plans to deal with these issues in the best possible manner. Apart from this, opinion and suggestions from workers can also be taken into consideration to define strategies and plans for future growth and success of The Social Support Agency. The benefit of encouraging suggestions from employees is that it will create sense of satisfaction among staff members and will encourage them to give their best towards long-term success of the agency.
It has been observed that there are different types of issues which have been faced by The Social Support Agency. For example, the abusive behavior of client is an ongoing process, and it has affected the overall morale level of workers. To deal with this issue, a client policy can be developed and implemented by the agency. Here, the organization should mention the expected behavior from clients (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). At the same time, all the customers and clients should be asked to read the policy and sign the same before making use of the services offered by The Social Support Agency.
In addition to this, the policy should also highlight the fact that in case if any of the clients abuse or behave unprofessionally, the agency has the authority to cancel the services on urgent basis. The case of Maryam outlines that she was being abused by the client of The Social Support Agency. At the same time, other staff members were also worried and affected by the things which happened with Maryam.
It has now become mandatory for the business enterprise to develop and implement a strict policy which reflects acceptable behavior from clients or customers. On the other side of, the HR manager, general manager, and senior management is required to emphasize on carrying out training and development sessions for workers (Cristiani & Peiró, 2015). In the modern era, training sessions have become essential for the long-term growth and success of a business enterprise.
It can be expressed that these sessions help workers to enhance their skill set, knowledge base and become more productive. In addition to this, training and development sessions also play a vital role in increasing the core competencies of staff members. In the context of The Social Support Agency, the training sessions can be provided with an objective to make employees learn the client handling tactics (Marchington, Wilkinson, Donnelly, & Kynighou, 2016).
The given case scenario outlines that dealing with abusive clients is part and parcel of the job within The Social Support Agency. Thus, training sessions will help workers to learn how they can handle rude and abusive clients in the best possible manner. The general manager working in The Social Support Agency explained that it is possible that the client will take out their anger and frustration on employees. It is recommended that imparting training sessions is the best and long-term solution to the problem of agency.
Here, employees can be trained to remain calm and react neutrally in situations where the client is getting rude and abusing the staff members. The managers should ask and encourage employees to use their listening skills in the best possible manner. The high frustration and stress level of customers can also be solved by apologizing with clients (Meyer & Xin, 2017). However, it can be critically argued that staying calm and apologizing is not an easy task and it is a kind of tactic which employees working in The Social Support Agency needs to learn.
Racial discrimination in the workplace is another major issue which has created obstacles in accomplishment of long and short-term objectives of The Social Support Agency. In the modern era, discrimination by factors such as age, race, background, color, etc. have emerged as the biggest problem for both employees and employers (Solnet, Kralj, & Baum, 2015). The best and most potent way to deal with the issue of discrimination is of implementing anti-discrimination policy with the workplace. Furthermore, the hard and soft copy of the policy should be forwarded to every employee working in the agency. At the same time, the policy should emphasize on taking strict action against the staff members who indulge in carrying out discrimination practices within the workplace (Nieves & Quintana, 2016). The management should also communicate the fact that the employees who participate in racism will be facing serious consequences.
Another effective strategy which can be implemented by The Social Support Agency to deal with the issue of discrimination is by focusing more on operating with a diversified workforce. Here, the selected agency will be required to make sure its workplace is racially and ethnically diverse. The benefit of operating with a diversified workforce is that it will help in creating a high degree of customer satisfaction (Nickson, 2013). The Social Support Agency will be able to gain a competitive advantage in the long by focusing on the development of a diversified workplace. The rationale behind this is that companies with diversified workforces can serve clients and customers in more satisfactory manner.
It can be expressed that incentives and rewards should be offered to employees who support in maintaining diversity within the workplace in the best possible manner. The agency should also focus on areas such as employee development and coaching to gain competitive advantages over the other business operating in the marketplace. The reason behind this is that The Social Support Agency will be able to attract more new customers and retain old ones as developed workers can offer fast and satisfactory services to all customers.
It is suggested that The Social Support Agency should also emphasize on developing and implementing an employee feedback and review system (Sparrow, Brewster, & Chung, 2016). In the present scenario, taking feedbacks from workers at regular intervals directly contributes to both short and long-term success of the organization.
On the contrary of this, it can be critically argued that only taking feedback will not help in accomplishing the long and short-term objective and the agency will be required to take corrective actions against the reviews provided by the staff member. The system of feedback and review will allow the company with an opportunity to identify the loopholes and issues in the existing system. At the same time, it will also help in identifying the challenges faced by staff members at the workplace (Mahajan, 2015). Based on the information collected, measures can be taken by The Social Support Agency with an objective to develop higher degree of satisfaction among all workers.
Conclusion
From the above report, it can be concluded that The Social Support Agency is facing various issues and challenges linked with the management of human resources. Furthermore, these problems have resulted in increasing the rate of employee turnover and have also affected the moral level of all staff members. It can be inferred that implementing client behavior and anti-discrimination policies are two major steps which can be taken by The Social Support Agency to deal with the challenges and issues. In addition to this, focusing on training and development of workers is another strategy which can be employed by the business.
References
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page Publishers.
Cristiani, A., & Peiró, J. M. (2015). Human resource function strategic role and trade unions: exploring their impact on human resource management practices in Uruguayan firms. . The International Journal of Human Resource Management , 381-400.
Ketchen Jr, D. J., Crook, T. R., Todd, S. Y., Combs, J. G., & Woehr, D. J. (2017). Managing Human Capital. . The Oxford Handbook of Strategy Implementation, , 283.
Klikauer, T. (2014). Human resource management and Kohlberg’s scale of moral development. . Philosophy of Management , 73-95.
Liu, D., Gong, Y., Zhou, J., & Huang, J. C. (2017). Human resource systems, employee creativity, and firm innovation: The moderating role of firm ownership. . Academy of Management Journal , 1164-1188.
Mahajan, J. P. (2015). Managing Human Resources. . Noida: Vikas Publishing House.
Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R., & Kynighou, A. (2016). Human resource management at work. . London: Kogan Page Publishers.
Meyer, K. E., & Xin, K. R. (2017). Managing talent in emerging economy multinationals: Integrating strategic management and human resource management. . The International Journal of Human Resource Management , 11-15.
Nickson, D. (2013). Human resource management for hospitality, tourism and events. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
Nieves, J., & Quintana, A. (2016). Human resource practices and innovation in the hotel industry: The mediating role of human capital. Tourism and Hospitality Research .
Solnet, D., Kralj, A., & Baum, T. (2015). 360 degrees of pressure: The changing role of the HR professional in the hospitality industry. . Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research , 271-292.
Sparrow, P., Brewster, C., & Chung, C. (2016). Globalizing human resource management. . Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
Stone, R. J. (2013). Managing human resources. Milton QLD: John Wiley & Sons Australia.
Tracey, J. B., Hinkin, T. R., Tran, T. L., Emigh, T., Kingra, Taylor, J., et al. (2015). A field study of new employee training programs: industry practices and strategic insights. . Cornell Hospitality Quarterly , 345-354.
Varma, A. (2013). Managing human resources in Asia-Pacific . Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
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