Human Resource Management Plan and Policy Issues - Example

Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to discuss the issues that the Human Resource Management of any company needs to address in its plans and policies for various fields. These fields include sustainability, corporate social responsibility, values and ethics. Issues of sustainability revolve around resource use, organizational continuity and funding. Corporate social responsibility issues include planning workforce recruitment, training and development, community relations, vision, mission and values, compensation and performance management, corporate culture and management change, competency development, training and orientation, employee communication, participation by employees and CSR policy development. Values include customer focus, respect, integrity, team spirit, competence, communication, accountability, fairness and quality services to customers. Introduction Corporate social responsibility and Human Resource Management has issues such as planning workforce recruitment, training and development, community relations, vision, mission and values, compensation and performance management, corporate culture and management change, competency development, training and orientation, employee communication, participation by employees and CSR policy development. Values include customer focus, respect, integrity, team spirit, competence, communication, accountability, fairness and quality services to customers (Blackburn, 2007, 79). Among the ethical issues are race, gender, disability and gender, cash and compensation, privacy matters and employment. The recommendations in this report show that a company is supposed to create a healthy and safe workplace. The office of the HRM should endeavor to use the open book style in management and give incentives for performance. It should also have feedback mechanisms, methods of harnessing ideas from the employees and systems for knowledge sharing in place. All these should have policies and plans made for them to be implemented continually. Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………...1 Strategic HRM policies and plans………………………………………………. 4 Sustainability……………………………………………………………………... 4 Continuity of the organization……………………………………………. 4 Resource use………………………………………………………………. 5 Funding …………………………………………………………………… 5 Corporate social responsibility………………………………………………….. 5 Planning workforce recruitment…………………………………………… 5 Training and development…………………………………………………. 5 Community relations………………………………………………………. 6 Vision, mission and values………………………………………………… 6 Compensation and performance management…………………………….. 6 Corporate culture and management change……………………………….. 6 Competency development…………………………………………………. 6 Training and orientation…………………………………………………… 7 Employee communication ………………………………………………… 7 Participation by employees………………….. …………………………… 8 CSR policy development………………………………………………….. 8 Values………………………………………………………………………………8 Customer focus……………………………………………………………. 8 Respect……………………………………………………………………. 9 Integrity…………………………………………………………………… 9 Team spirit……………………………………………………………….. 9 Competence……………………………………………………………… 9 Communication………………………………………………………….. 9 Accountability…………………………………………………………… 10 Fairness………………………………………………………………….. 10 Quality services to customers…………………………………………… 11 Ethics…………………………………………………………………………… 11 Race…………………………………………………………………….. 11 Gender, disability and gender………………………………………….. 12 Cash and compensation…………………………………………………. 12 Privacy matters………………………………………………………….. 12 Employment…………………………………………………………….. 12 Strategic recommendations…………………………………………………… 12 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………… 14 References ……………………………………………………………………… 15 Strategic HRM policies and plans According to Lebow & William (1999, 56), human resource management policies and plans are very important for any organization. Organizational strategy can then be implemented smoothly if policies and plans are in place. Policies and plans in any organization can be developed in the area of ethics, sustainability, corporate social responsibility and values. Sustainability plans and policy issues are those that help to incorporate sustainability through wise resource use and environmental conservation. An organization must also have policies that remind it to give back to society through corporate social responsibility initiatives. Values such as customer focus and integrity can help the company to maintain its image. Policies and plans in the field of ethics help to bring about ethics in the activities of the organization. Employees are required to follow such plans so that they can work ethically. The focus of this report is on the plans and policies an organization needs to maintain ethics, corporate social responsibility, values and sustainability in all of its operations. Sustainability The HRM of any company should have sustainability issues in its policies and plans. When these policies are developed they can then be used in the company to bring sustainability through the operations of the employees. Every company has the responsibility of promoting sustainability within the organization and among the surrounding communities (Blackburn, 2007, 79). Sustainability should be aimed at conserving the environment and the resources within the disposal of the company. In the field of sustainability, the strategic issues to be addressed include: i) Continuity of the organization The continued presence and success of the company is a part of the achievements of sustainability because the infrastructure belonging to the company and the output should also be there for posterity as well. The organizational capacity to provide its services to the community continuously must be maintained. Everything that pertains to the survival of the company must receive proper attention to ensure that it remains sustainable. This includes giving protection to the brand as well as the goods and services owned by the company (Blackburn, 2007, 69). ii) Resource use The HRM has the responsibility of making plans and policies to control the use of resources in the company and help staff to adhere to the conservation and protection of the environment. Sustainability must have protection and conservation of the environment at its core. Other issues to be considered include conservation of energy, management of wastes and pollution control. The overall strategy of the organization must address every single concern from staff and the local communities about the conservation and protection of the resources and the entire environment (Blackburn, 2007, 84). iii) Funding Funding is an important issue to any company that is keen on sustainability. It should allocate funds to be used in sustainability activities. The policies and plans developed will have to address how the funds can be obtained and their mode of use. Efforts to increase sustainability may be initiated among the surrounding communities so as to better the quality of life and that of the environment. This can help the organization to present an image of sustainability consciousness (Blackburn, 2007, 89). Corporate social responsibility The Human Resource Management of the company should be keen on a number of issues when working on its plans and policies in corporate social responsibility. These issues include: i) Workforce recruitment and planning Planning of the workforce is important to corporate social responsibility. This exercise has to be done by analyzing the competencies of the workforce that the company has, measuring the workforce with the company’s future needs, creating plans for the future workforce and evaluation plans. Since the company is involved in corporate social responsibility the HRM must organize for the evaluation of the need for competencies and skill combinations necessary for an economy embracing sustainability (Anderson, 1989, 100). ii) Community relations The community relations reward program should be implemented by the company besides contributing to charity and involving the local community. These efforts should be spearheaded by the Human Resource Management team through policy development and planning. iii) Development and training Under training and development there should be planned programs that show how the important services and products in the company connect with the rest of society. The initiative of development and training should guided by the value of company services and products to the community and the way employee take part in corporate social responsibility (Kotler, 2005, 57). iv) Values, mission and vision For a company to have an effective plan for corporate social responsibility the HRM should state its mission, values and vision with clarity. HRM should take part in plans to create and support the company’s foundation for values mission and vision. The mission, the vision and he values should form the basis on which the corporate social responsibility is founded (Kotler, Lee, 2005, 61). v) Management for performance and compensation The Human Resource Management has its functions relying on compensation and performance management (Anderson, 1989, 106). The Human Resource Management is responsible for setting performance standards and monitoring the result with its objectives and focus set on performance. Human resource managers should ensure that they incorporate the various aspects of corporate social responsibility in the job descriptions of the organization, the goals of the team and individual performance plans. Reward programs and all the arrangements for recognition should be made in alignment with the corporate social responsibility strategy of the company (Kotler, Lee, 2005, 80). vi) Training, orientation and development of competency Through policies and plans in corporate social responsibility, the company should have orientation arrangements whereby employees are taught the relationship between the mission, vision and the values and goals of corporate social responsibility. New employees should be taken through orientation, training and competency development by receiving information about corporate social responsibility commitments, main corporate social responsibility issues within the company and the major stakeholders with which the company operates. Corporate social responsibility should then be made part of the managerial staff training programs. vii) Corporate culture and management of change Human Resource Management should be actively involved in the management of the change process, corporate culture and team building. Role modeling, generation of desire and building of awareness should be given priority in order to realize behavioral change and a transformation of the mindsets. In order to focus continually on corporate social responsibility values there should be team realignment and change in management. Change is also needed if the corporate social responsibility ethics have to be incorporated into the organization. viii) Employee communication All strategies of corporate social responsibility are bound to be successful if an employee program is developed and implemented. This is important in showing the company’s direction, innovation, objectives and level of performance on the corporate social responsibility efforts. Employees should be allowed to access information through blogs, websites, blogs, intranets, videos and town hall meetings among others (Kotler, Lee, 2005, 72). ix) Participation by employees Employees are an important element in the development of the corporate social responsibility strategy because they are the biggest stakeholders in the company. The process of mission, values and vision strategy development in the organization should bring on board all the views of every stakeholder especially the employees. Employees should be prioritized in their participation in the development of the corporate social responsibility strategy. Employees should be allowed to take part in decisions involving donations to charity and community involvement in different areas. This can help ensure that they cooperate in during the implementation of various policies and plans (Kotler, Lee, 2005, 77). x) Development of corporate social strategy policy Human resource management should be in a position to direct policy development and program implementation in specific areas that render support to the values of corporate social responsibility. Values The plans and policies of the HRM should have issues such as: i) Customer focus The manager for human resources should direct the plans and policies that assist the company to anticipate, understand and effectively respond to customer needs in a timely manner. Customer feedback should be used to bring improvement in the operations of an organization (Lebow, William 1999, 115). ii) Integrity The company should promote sincere interactions among staff members, clients and the rest of the community. They should allow trustful relationships to take shape. Any confidentiality that the company is given should be protected and respected. iii) Respect When handling the problems of other people it is good to observe sensitivity and patience. The organization should foster a culture of open mindedness, forth rightness and fairness when it interacts with employees and clients (Lebow, William 1999, 119). iv) Team spirit The other issue about values is the spirit of working together in a team. Working in togetherness and collaboration with other employees and customers is very important. Every member of the team must care about the needs of the customers and fellow employees. When there is cooperation, unity is born and consequently, performance improves (Lebow, William 1999, 95). v) Communication In both business and personal operations, people must base their relationships on communication. Everybody in the company should be trained to comprehend the perspective of other people through proper listening and giving sincere responses. vi) Competence The company should be in a position to promote competent and effective performance through the knowledge and skills acquired through training and experience. Customers need to be given services and products that are the work of competent people (Natale, Fenton, Libertella, 2003, 213). vii) Fairness Fairness is important and all people should have this important value in the company. Policies and plans must help employees to cultivate fairness. Everybody should receive fair treatment in an ethical and equitable manner. Decisions should be made without prejudice and favoritism to any body. Policies and plans in the area of values should have fairness incorporated at every stage. Fairness should be served to all that the company is involved with among them employees, clients and all stakeholders. viii) Accountability Accountability is also important as one of the values required in any organization. When accountability is incorporated in policies it can help employees to be empowered to promote responsible behavior. Employees need to be encouraged to have critical thinking, take risks and be innovative. Employees should be made to be truthful when they represent their intentions and themselves in accountability for their actions and words (Natale et al. 2003, 54). ix) Quality services to customers Policies and plans should be directed at providing customer service that is high in quality and professionalism. The company should support and give all the advice required by its employees every time. There should be assurance that the organization will always be available to the community. When services and products are of high quality they raise the reputation of the organization within the industry (Lebow, William 1999, 89). Ethics Ethics in the organization involves issues such as: i) Employment matters Employee hiring and firing brings a new ethical challenge to the Human Resource Manager. The HRM needs to watch against unfairness and compromise in the process of hiring and firing of employees. Hiring presents a big challenge when the candidate has a recommendation from a friend to receive the job or comes from the family of one of the top managers or even the human resource manager. Certain employees already in the company could have presented fake papers to get their positions within the company. Some of these employees may be people that have been trained by the company and their current positions are very critical. Other cases may involve employees that have received great appreciation in the period they have been in the company or they possess valuable skills and the right attitude that is desirable to the organization. These cases are in themselves a huge dilemma to the office of he human resources manager (Gilliland, Steiner, Skarlicki, 2007, 112).  ii) Cash and Compensation The company should be ready to handle matters involving annual incentives, salaries and executive perquisites. The HRM office may be under pressure to increase the bae salaries of employees. The HRM could be under pressure as well to give bigger incentive to top managers in order to retain them. Other ethical matters arise when incentive and compensation plans are being developed under the guidance of the CEO or hired consultant. The temptation for the HRM would be tempted to favor the interests of top managers than those of other stakeholders and employees of a lower rank when dealing with payout (Vilcox, Mohan, 2007, 37). iii) Privacy All the employees within the company have a private side of life that should be approached with respect and protection. Employees could have issues such as religious affiliation, social beliefs and political inclination in their private lives. The employer may be required to carry out investigations in employee lives if the employees are thought to be involved in activities that do not benefit the company. This kind of investigation could require that the employer scans the mails of employees under suspicion. Other issues in ethics are those that touch on the health and safety of the staff, employee responsibilities, layoff and organizational restructuring. The HRM should decide whether these activities have ay significance ethically or not (Hanekamp, 2007, 134). iv) Gender, race and disability An organization could be carrying out discrimination on employees based on where they come from, their race, disability and gender. The policies that control the behavior of employees should be put in place to guide issues of fairness in the organization. The company must consider performance as the only factor that differentiates employees. Managers should be given training on how to align behavior and avoid discriminating their employees (Gilliland, et al. 2007, 30).  Strategic recommendations The main plans and policies of HRM with the effect of profile transformation should involve those things that the HRM should do to for the company and the clients in order to win their approval. The human resource manager should create a healthy and safe workplace. The HRM should come up with policies and plans that can help accomplish this. A safe and healthy workplace makes employees to be comfortable and have the willingness to remain with the company for longer periods. The office of the HRM should endeavor to use the open book style in management. When information on sales, objectives and policies of management is shared, employees tend to develop an enthusiasm about the organization in a similar manner to the management. Bonuses linked to performance when offered to employees can serve as incentives or cause disillusionment to the employees. These bonuses should only be issued when the company has reached a certain set profit amount. The company should develop a system through which it can be getting feedback from the senior management. Information may also be obtained from the lower ranking employees because their opinion is also important in the day to day operations of the organization. The company should develop a system of evaluating all employees fairly. The HRM should create an evaluation system that links the priorities of the company to its goals. Every employee must have their own reporting relationships. Employees get empowered when they rate themselves (Vilcox, Mohan, 2007, 69). The HRM should promote knowledge sharing. The company needs to have an approach that makes the knowledge management support strategy. Storing information within databases is good since employees can get it easily. Selection should be done properly for materials so that only the best materials are retained. For instance, innovative ideas that have been implemented within the company should be made available for others to share in them. The human resource management should have the profiles of those employees that perform the best and put then on display boards and the intranet. This can help other people to realize the need to work hard and hence increase competition in the organization. The company needs to have open house talks that can be used for harnessing ideas. The company should take these ideas, nurture and execute them. Reward ceremonies are also critical in recognition broadcasting. The human resource manager should have policies and plans that allow these ceremonies to be held on regular basis. Employees will be better off if the company delights them with rewards occasionally even when they don’t expect them. Those employees ranking highly should be rewarded as well as some who perform lowly in order to motivate them. Conclusion In conclusion, this report has examined into the major issues required in developing HRM plans and policies in different fields among them sustainability, corporate social responsibility, values and ethics. Many issues have been discussed in each of the fields mentioned. Issues of sustainability include continuity of the company, use of resources and funding. Corporate social responsibility has issues such as planning workforce recruitment, training and development, community relations, vision, mission and values, compensation and performance management, corporate culture and management change, competency development, training and orientation, employee communication, participation by employees and CSR policy development. Values include customer focus, respect, integrity, team spirit, competence, communication, accountability, fairness and quality services to customers. Among the ethical issues are race, gender, disability and gender, cash and compensation, privacy matters and employment. Proper plan and policy development in the company should include all of the issues discussed in this report. An effective and workable strategy should be put in place with the interests of all stakeholders brought on board. Bibliography Anderson, J.W. (1989). Corporate Social Responsibility: Guidelines for Top Management. Ashgate Publishing. Blackburn, W.R., (2007). The Sustainability Handbook: The Complete Management Guide to achieving Social, Economic and Environmental Responsibility. Cengage Learning. Gilliland, S., Steiner, D.D., Skarlicki, D. (2007). Managing Social and Ethical Issues in Organizations. Routledge. Hanekamp, G., (2007). Business Ethics and Innovation. Oxford. Kotler, P., Lee, N. (2005) Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the most good for your company and your cause. Routledge. Lebow, R., William L. S. (1999). Lasting Change: The Shared Values Process that Makes Companies Great. IAP. Natale, S.M., Fenton, M.B., Libertella, F.B., (2003). Business Education and Training. A value Laden Process Volume 9. Springer. Vilcox, M.W., Mohan, T.O. (2007). Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics. John Wiley & Sons. Read More