How to Become a Good Employer in Terms of Human Resource Management - Literature review Example

Running Head: Evaluation of Research Project Name Institution Course Date Evaluation of the Research Project “How to become a good employer in terms of human resource” is the research topic that I chose to study after narrowing it down from the general research topic “business management”. Since I am really interested in creating and managing a business, I knew that choosing this topic would help me find out more information about business management in general. At the end of the entire research I would definitely identify the vital principles and values that every employer must have in order to successfully run a business. Therefore, “How to become a good employer in terms of human resource” is a research topic that required me to make use of both primary and secondary sources of information. For the primary sources, I went as far as interviewing various employers to get first-hand information about business management. Secondary sources involved the use of library “business management” and the internet information. The entire research process resulted in an essay style type of research and at the end I realized that for one to run a business successfully, all employees must be treated well, nepotism should not exist, employers must have clear objectives for the business, and employees must do what is suitable for them. In order to fully understand the entire research process, I had to find out a clear definition of “Human Resource Management” (HRM) and according to Burrow and Kleindl, (2013), it basically refers to a procedure or even better a function in corporates that is designed to maximize the performance of the employees in line with the strategic goals of their employers. I therefore realized that, the main primary concern of Human Resource, is the way the employees are handled within various organizations, it focusses on systems and policies. There are quite a number of activities that human resource departments are responsible for, they comprise development and training, rewarding the staff, performance appraisal, and employee recruitment (Goldfinch and Wallis, 2009). Finding out a clear definition of HR, therefore made me realize that the kind of employees every organization have must be well taken care of as employees are the greatest assets that any corporate can have. Treating them as part of the family is one thing that will ensure all employees does exactly what they are expected of them hence improving the performance of the business (Achua, 2010). Reading though the business management books that I borrowed from the library gave me an insight that Human Resource Manager is not just an employer but should be a parent too, hence expected to oversee internal disputes, advice the entire body of staff when a need arises, and should also fulfil the promised benefits. According to Chaturvedi, (2011), systematic staff get-togethers and any other regular communication forums should be carried out for purposes of sharing and conveying both the bad and good pieces of information. In the case of primary information sources, the research process seemed to have been a little bit challenging in the sense that for me to find the right and helpful information about my research topic I had no other choice but to read several books about business management. I found out that primary sources proved to be very reliable sources; most of the information that assisted me go through my project came from the books of business management that I only had access to through public libraries. For instance, Lussier (2010) argued that listening to the staff, getting an insight about their career goals, and showing them that the management cares for them, is the best way to improve the performance of the business as this will not only strengthened the employee-employer relationship but will also motivate them in performing their duties. Engaged staff raises the opportunities of success as this makes them more innovative, more so, staff are human beings, thus meaning they are social beings too; primary sources therefore provided me with the most accurate, useful and reliable information. The use of internet information, which falls under the category of secondary sources, was one research process method that provided most of the information regarding the negative results that are related to practicing nepotism. According to Liau (2006), good Human Resource Managers should be part of nepotism as this has a negative effect in the performance of the business. Through my research that I conducted over the internet, nepotism for a very long time has been the biggest problem in most organizations. My findings about nepotism in place of work is supported by Goldfinch and Wallis (2009); their research showed that the employees (seven percent to be exact) working for Southwest Airline Company in the United States, are the immediate or at least relatives in a way to the people managing the company. Even though I found claims from the internet (Bangor Daily News website) that there are no such a thing happening in Southwest Airline Company, it is clear that nepotism has affected the performance of the organization. Internet also provided useful information in the sense that nepotism is real and it has, in several occasions, affected or even brought the closure of several companies. In my interview with one of the top official of the company, who requested anonymity for safety purposes, nepotism is the biggest issue existing within the company. Through the interview I got to learn that setting up clear objectives is very important and therefore it is the duty of the manager to ensure the business have clear goals; a good and knowledgeable employer ensures employees are involved in the setting up of the company’s goals. During my entire process of researching on the topic “How to become a good employer in terms of human resource”, I came across quite a number of challenges that in a way would have hindered my research if it wasn’t for other sources of information. Such challenges involved finding or getting an appointment for the interview with managers of various organization. This actually proved to be quite hard as most of the managers I had intended to interview face to face opted for the interview over the phone, for example the Southwest Airline Company manager whom I had to interview over the phone for a period of one and a half hours, a process that did not yield much information because of the poor network coverage. This was a little bit hard I was supposed to listen as I write the findings or the answers at the same time asking for those answers. In the long run, we opted to continue our conversation through other means of communication, such as texting through Skype. Another challenge that came in handy with interviews over the phone was unstable network coverage in some parts which made me experience line breaking during the interview time. According to Grossman and Parkinson (2002), in their book “Becoming a successful manager: how to make a smooth transition from managing yourself to managing others” any kind of transformation has quite a number of challenges, but it takes a knowledgeable man to find out what other solution exists out there. One other challenge was the issue of travelling to far places in the search for answers on “How to become a good employer in terms of human resource”. I had to travel to Southwest Airline Company headquarters in my first attempt to interview the manager but could not manage to get there in time due to bad weather hence I choose another day but this time I had to carry out the interview over the phone. In the end of the entire “How to become a good employer in terms of human resource”, research process, the findings that I came across proved to be valuable in the sense that, one must have quite a number of qualities in order to run and manage a business successfully. My findings reflects the real world of business management, in the sense of what good employers must ensure to put in place in order to meet their expectation. For example good employee-employer relationship is one of the qualities that employers must ensure it exists; it is a very vital tool for the success of any organization. Finding real answers about my research topic was the biggest aim I had which the end result made me feel satisfied because I realized that the success of an organization comes as a result of the good work done by the employees, who happen to be the greatest asset of any corporate. According to Grossman and Parkinson (2002), ensuring that nepotism does not exist in workplace, proper delegation of work, togetherness of staff in workplace, and clear set up of the business goals is what every employee must do. Considering the fact that I utilized all the possible sources of information, such as primary and secondary sources of information, I believe that my research outcome was complete as it met most of the requirements that I was aiming to achieve at the beginning of the research. References Burrow, J. L., & Kleindl, B. (2013). Business Management. Mason, US, Cengage Learning. Chaturvedi, P. D., & Chaturvedi, M. (2011). Business communication: concepts, cases and applications. Delhi, Dorling Kindersley. Goldfinch, S., & Wallis, J. (2009). International handbook of public management reform. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar. Grossman, J. H., & Parkinson, J. R. 2002. Becoming a successful manager: how to make a smooth transition from managing yourself to managing others. Chicago, Contemporary Books. Liau, B. 2006. True leaders: moral guide for modern living. Bloomington, Ind, Authorhouse. Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. 2010. Leadership: theory, application, skill development. Australia, South-western/Cengage Learning. Read More