Why the Organization Needs to Collect Data, Types of Data Collected and Methods of Collection - Assignment Example

Lectuter: 3RAI Part A The report is to present the new HR Director on the organization’s approach to collecting, storing, and using HR data. It will focus on the reasons why the organization needs to collect data, types of data collected and methods of collection and the essential legislations regarding data storage and accessibility. Data may either be quantitative or qualitative and refers to known facts which are then analysed and interpreted into meaningful information to find out things or to make decisions. Raw data is useless if it cannot provide the knowledge needed for decision making or if it is not used for that purpose. For example, if an organization collects data about worker satisfaction and stores the data without acting on it, it is meaningless. However, is the data collected is accurate and well analysed, it can be of great help to the organization. There are numerous reasons as to why the organization needs to collect HR data. The major reason for collecting data is managerial decision making and action. The management needs to decide on various issues that affects workers and organization success and cannot do so without accurate information. It needs to know what competitors are doing in respect of employees in order to gain competitive advantage; whether workers are satisfied and what can be done to improve their morale in order to increase productivity and other aspects such as absenteeism, labor turnover, and performance levels. Another reason is for legal compliance. The law requires organizations to comply with labor laws such as laws against discrimination, termination and redundancy. To avoid legal litigations for claims of unfair dismissal or termination, the organization needs to collect and record all information regarding workers such as pay, performance levels and disciplinary actions taken to act as evidence in such cases. To avoid discrimination cases, it needs to record information about age of workers, sex, race, religion, disability, pay levels and also recruitment procedures. This data informs the organization whether it is complying with the law and can also be used as evidence in discrimination cases. The health and safety legislation also requires records of accidents, exposure to harzadous substances and training provided to be kept. There are various types of data collected within the organization to support HR practices. Quantitative data such as employee turn over, absenteeism, vacancy forecasts and sales targets are crucial for HR in manpower planning, performance management and disciplinary procedures. For example, a high rate of staff turnover is a sign that employees are not satisfied with their work and in this case, HR department needs to develop a strategy for worker retention and also its recruitment and selection procedures and induction processes. It could also be a performance issue hence HR can improve its performance and reward strategies to ensure a motivated, commited and engaged workforce. Another type of data is qualitative data such as organization policies and procedures, customer satisfaction, performance reviews and Key Peformnace Indicators (KPIs). This type of data is essential for HR in improving its strategies and reviewing its objectives. For example, if most of the customers say they are dissatisfied with customer service, then HR needs to find out what the reason could be and develop measures to improve employee efficiency and productivity. HR also needs to collect data on KPIs so as to know how the organization is progressing and what needs to be done to reach the desired state. For example, by reviewing its recruitment and selection procedures and performance targets. Once data is collected, it needs to be stored safely for future reference and to make key decisions. Data can either be stored as hard copy or soft copy. Hard copy involves storing raw data in hand written form in reports and files. For example, contracts of employment are kept in employee personal files. The advantage of this type of storage is that it can act as back-up in case information kept as sofy copy is lost or evidence is needed for tribunal cases. These documents contain original signatures hence are good back-up files. Information such as visas or other travel documents also need to be kept in this form. Moreover, data in hard copies is not prone to hacking. The disadvantage is that storage of such data is tedious and time involving as it involves a lot of paper work. It can also be easily lost, misplaced or burned and requires a lot of storage space. Soft copy involves feeding raw data into computers hence accuracy of recording is vital. The advantage is that such data is easy to access, update, transfer and manage as it only involves a click of a button. It is also easy to generate other information from this data especially if it involves complex computations such as redundancy . It is more accurate than hand computation. It is thus appropriate in this day and age when speed is the key to organizational success in effecting changes and responding to the environment. However, it is prone to hacking and damage by viruses. It can also lead to inaccurate results if the raw data input into the computer is not accurate resulting in wrong decisions. It also requires the logic of processes to be correct if the final results are to be credible or reliable. Recording, storage and accessibility of HR data is bound by legislations. The UK Data Protection Act of 1998 provides such legislation.According to this Act, personal data can only be produced for lawful purposes. The organization collects a lot of employee information such as age, sex, marital status, pay level and other confidential information. Such information especially regarding pay can only be produced to third parties with employee’s consent or as demanded by the courts. Employees need to be sure that their information is protected by appropriate security measures. For access, the Act requires the data provided to employees be adequate, relevant, but not excessive to keep employees updated on the progress of the organization and on matters that affect them. 3PRM part A The reports deals with performance and reward management in the organization and its relation to motivation. Performance management is defined by Armstrong and Baron as “a natural process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance” (p.2). It establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and approach to leading and developing people to ensure it is achieved. The strategy used is organization specific as it is about managing within the context of business. It entails effective management of teams and individuals to achieve high levels of performance hence it is a strategy for delivering competitive advantage for the organization. It is about performance improvement, development and managing behavior. The purpose of performance management is achievement of high performance by the organization and its people; it is about achieving organizational success. To be the leading manufacturer of home and personal care products in a highly competitive environment, the organization needs to gain a competitive edge and this can only be achieved through its people. That is why humans resources are considered as an essential asset for the organization. To achieve this objective, better results from the organization team and individuals is required. This can only be achieved through performance management as it recognizes the areas of strengths to be build on and areas of weaknesses to be dealt with mostly by developing capacity of individuals through training and development. This results in improved productivity for the organization and individuals and overall organization success. Another purpose of performance management is to establish an agreed framework of planned goals, standards and competencies required. The organization depends on producing high quality goods and services for customers hence its aim is to manage performance against individual objectives and team objectives. These objectives must be aligned to the overall organization objectives and strategies developed to achieve this objective. The line managers in collaboration with employees decide on standards and competencies that will be required to achieve these objectives which will consequently result in the achievement of overall objective of delivering high quality products. As stated earlier, performance management is a process and as such involves many interconnected components such as performance planning, performance appraisal and review, and rewarding performance. Performance planning involves agreements on what is to done and how and what needs to be achieved. It thus involves performance agreements or objective setting as well as personal development plans. At this stage, the manager and employee agree on what is to be achieved or performance targets and key performance areas, as well as skills, knowledge and expertise required to attain results. These expectations must be clear enough for the employee if performance is to achieved as they form the basis for measurement, feedback, assessment and development. The objectives set must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound (SMART). This enables employees to feel ownership of the process hence commitment. Another key component is performance appraisal and review. Appraisal is the assessment of performance and is mostly done twice a year; mid-year reviews and annual reviews. The employees gives evidence of his/her performance and discusses their performance with the appraiser who is the line manager and in the end, the appraiser gives final ratings. If the performance is poor, strategies for overcoming it are discussed and agreed on. A decision of whether to review objectives is also made. The third component is rewards. After the annual review, the good performers are rewarded with either financial or non-financial rewards in form of bonuses, salary review, recognition, promotion or even increased responsibility. This is to motivate workers to continue performing to the best of their abilities. Performance management is closely associated with motivation as motivated workers are high performers. Motivation is the force that drives people to act or which maintains goal-directed behavior. There are various theories that explain what motivates people to act. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) in his theory of hierarchy of needs argued that people are motivated by dfferent needs which are in a hierarchy. One must satisfy the lower needs in order to progress to the next level of needs (Martin & Whitting 154). The five levels are: basic or physiological needs such as shelter; safety needs (job security); social needs (love, sense of belonging); esteem (status and recognition) and highest level is self-actualization. It is only after fulfilling basic needs that one is motivated by safety needs. This has implication for performance management as the management must decide which rewards to give different employees since ther are neither at the same level of hierachy nor do they progress at the same pace; they are not motivated in same way. Those at the basic level can be motivated by a basic pay while those at esteem level are motivated through non-financial rewards such as recognition. The management must thus understand each worker and design performance management and reward system aim at satisfying all the workers so that they can be all motivated to work harder to achieve their goals. Frederick Herzberg’s (1923-) two-factor theory indicates that there are motivators and hygiene factors that motivate people to perform. Motivators are directly related with the job and includes rewards such as recognition, extra responsibility (Martin & Whitting, 154-155). Hygiene factors can demotivate workers if absent but are not in themselves motivators such as reasonable pay and working conditions. As such, performance management should be in such a way that all types of workers are motivated by being given different types of rewards. It can also involve improving nature and content of job through job enrichment, job enlargement and empowerment. The main aim of performance management is to motivate workers hence the two work hand in hand. There are many purposes of rewards within performance management system is to motivate workers and keep them engaged. When workers are motivated, they have a high morale to work hard and achieve objectives leading to improved productity and overall success of the organization which is the purpose of performance management. Rewards are also a way of reinforcing the behavior that earned the reward in the first place. If a worker is recognized for meeting or exceeding sales targets, he/she is likely to continue with that behavior but if their efforts are not recognized or appreciated, they are likely to lose morale leading to decline in their productivity. Effective reward systems also improve on company reputation making is possible to attract, recruit and retain talented employees. This is because the company develops and maintains a performance and result-oriented culture giving it a competitive edge in the market. Rewards should therefore be more than just pay if the performance management has to lead to organizational success. A total reward system comprises of financial and non-finacial rewards. One component of this system is pay increment. The annual performance review is mostly used to determine salary increments of employees. This means that poor performers do not get a salary increment as their work is not satisfactory. Instead, they are given warning and if their performance still does not improve, they can be terminated. Besides pay increment, the company can decide to give annual bonuses for good performers. This is a certain percentage of the salary based on company profits so if the company does not gain any profits, the employees do not get a bonus. As such, it can be demotivating sometimes. In addition to financial incentives, workers can be given recognition such as “ employee of the month” or be given additional responsibilities depending on what they value most. This shows them the company appreciates their work. In return, the employee with such a title will work hard to ensure they maintain it while others will compete to get it hence the whole team will be motivated leading to high productivity. 3PRM Part B The report is a briefing guide to new employees using best practice guidelines and entails procedures for conducting a performance appraisal. Performance appraisal is conducted on yearly basis to review workers performance for reward purposes and to remedy poor performance. It is also aimed at setting objectives to be achieved on current year as a result of review of last year’s results. The process of performance appraisal is jointly agreed between the appraiser and appraise. The process begins with preparation of appraisal materials by managers and employees. Managers inform employees of the review date and venue and prepare the meeting room in advance to create the right atmosphere, They carry recorded information on performance as evidence and any other material required. This information is gained using the 360-Degree feedback whereby different stakeholders such as customers, employees, supervisors and peers fill a questionnaire or appraisal form to rate performance of the employee. Employees prepare self-appraisals as evidence of their performance, show up on time for the review and also write objectives. The next step involves the actual meeting where employees present their evidence and discusses performance with the manager after which final results are given. A gap analysis is performed to determine where the employee is currently and where they are supposed to be and action plans devised to close the performance gap. The final step is to reward high performance and describe a remedy for poor performance. Good and poor performance is identified through a gap analysis. Good performance is reinforced through rewards based on employee’s values and beliefs. Different employees have different views regarding rewards hence the management should understand them well before rewarding them. For example, some like financial rewards like bonuses and pay increment while others desire status and recognition. These rewards should be seen to be fair otherwise they could backfire on the management. On the other hand, management should give remedies for poor performance. First, they should let the employee know that they still have room for improvement and not scold or be act aggressively towards them. They should both engage in discovering areas of weaknesses and to device action plans such as coaching, mentoring, training and development. The manager can also decide to punish the employee depending oon the situation. A lot of information is available to both employee and manager to support performance management process. The manager has the progress reports from previous appraisals and ongoing monitoring and reviews, job description, and information from employee file such as attendance. The manager also has information collected through the 360-degree appraisal method which can act as evidence of employee’s performance during the period. The manager also has at his/her disposal various reports such as sales reports or production reports. The staff on the other hand, have self-appraisal forms which shows what they have achieved against set targets or self-rating. This acts as evidence of their performance. 3 MER Part A This part deals with employment relationship with special focus on employment status. The employment relationship between employers and employees is vital in determining organization success. A positive relation can lead to success while a strained or negative relationship can result into organization’s downfall especially due to poor reputation, work stoppages and unproductive and demotivated staff. It is thus essential to ensure a positive relationship is prevalent in the work place at all times. One of the internal factors that impacts on employment relationship is employee grievances. Depending on how such grievances are handled, employment relationship can be maintained or destroyed. Trade Unions especially in the manufacturing sector do help to negotiate with employers on behalf of employees thus acting as a link between management and staff and a voice through which grievances are aired. Although such methods work, a system where workers can air their grievances and resolve disputes is essential. A two-way communication in this case can ensure that employees are free to air their grievances and that they are listened to and acted upon. Failure to deal appropriately with grievances can lead to unnecessary strikes and loss of revenue for the organization. Employers and employees in this case become adversaries thereby destroying the work atmosphere leading to low productivity and poor performance for the company. Another internal factor is disciplinary procedures. Depending on the way discipline is handled, employment relationship can be affected. If the disciplinary measures are viewed to be excessive, unreasonable or unfair, they lead to worker dissatisfaction and strained relations. An external factor that affects the relationship between workers and employer is laws and regulations by government agencies such as employee rights, and worker safety. An employer needs to comply with these laws failure to which can result in a strained relationship. In addition, work/life balance can affect employment relationship. Employees are also family members and need time to be with their families. They thus have to balance work and family life sometimes resulting in frequent absenteeism and poor performance. The management should in this case provide measures to balance the two such as allowing workers flexible time to meet family obligations and to work effectively. The employment status in an employment relationship is vital as it determines the rights and responsibilies of employees. There are various types of employment status such as worker, employee, contractors and self-employed. An employee in employment law is “someone who works under an employment contract” (Gov.uk). However, such employees have a different status in tax law. These employees works for a mminimum number of hours unless they are on holiday or any other leave; they can work full-time, part-time or annualized hours. They also have to work personally; they cannot send someone else to work on their behalf. They also work at the business’s premises or at an address specified by the business and are provided with materials, tools and equipment for their work by the organization. Self-employed persons are “those who run their business for themselves and take responsibility for its success or failure” (Gov.uk). Such workers do not have the rights and responsibilities enjoyed by employees. Moreover, one can be employed and self-employed at the same time during their leisure time or free hours. Unlike employees, they do not have to work themselves but can engage services of another person. They also can work for more than one client and provide themselves with tools and equipments. A worker is employed on contract or any other arrangement to do work personally for a reward. Unlike employees, workers have a limited right to subcontract someone else to do their work otherwise they have to turn up for work. They also do work on their own companies like self-employed individuals but for an employer. They are entitled to rights but not to a great extent like employees. It is essential to identify employment status to know the rights and responsibilities they are entitled to. For example, employees are entitled to all rights of workers in addition to flexible working, statutory redundancy pay, sick pay, maternity, paternity and adoption and also unfair dismissal. These rights are not enjoyed by self-employed individuals or contractors. The self-employed and contracted individuals are also exempt from PAYE. Instead, they pay their own National Insurance and tax and operate under contract for services. Self-employed individuals are also their own bosses hence the organization cannot supervise or discipline them unlike employees. It is therefore, crucial to know employment status in order to comply with the law and avoid unnecessary litigations. 3 MER Part B The report explores the importance of work- life balance, organization policies and legislations that guide employment relationship. Work-life balance involves offering employees flexible time working arrangements so that they can meet demands of their work as well as that of their families. Work-life balance initiatives include: part-time working, job sharing, annual hours, home-based working and flexitime. One of the organizational objectives is to improve the lives of the communities. This cannot be achieved if the organization does not first improve the lives of its employees so that they can in turn improve the lives of others and enhance quality of life for consumers. As such, work-life balance is crucial in meeting community commitments. Work-life balance is important in the organization especially if it has to meet delivery demands of customers. This requires the organization to work 24/7 and this can impact on worker productivity. It is therefore crucial to offer flexible time for employees to have time for themselves. For example, thet an work day shift and others nighy shift to serve customers well. Employees also expect more individual choice and freedom and are backed up by employment laws which give them the right to request flexible time. Giving them this opportunity helps the workers to remain motivated and engaged while also complying with labor laws. Moreover, juggling responsibility at home and workplace could be stressful thus affecting productivity. It is thus important to give workers time to deal with family issues to avoid issues to do with absenteeism and high turnover and also to improve staff morale. It is also evident that with laws against employment discrimination, more women are entering manufacturing industries. Some of them are single mothers with young babies hence need flexible time to deal with their families. Furthermore, technology has made it easier to work any place at any time hence the organization needs to trust its employees and embrace technology. Lastly, the law requires organizations to apply family friendly policies and procedures and work-life balance is such a policy which needs to be complied with. Legal support for family members is available for employees to balance work-life. One example of such legal support is maternity leave for women who have given birth. The statutory maternity leave is 52 weeks. The first 26 weeks are for ordinary maternity leave and the remaining 26 weeks are for additional maternity leave. For someone who works in a factory, she must take 4 weeks maternity leave after the baby is born and forfeit the rest if she so wishes. The maternity can begin 11 weeks before the week of birth or the day after birth if the baby is early. As regards to pay, one gets 90% of weekly average earnings for the first 6 weeks and £ 138.18 or 90% of average weekly earnings whichever is lower for the next 33 weeks (Gov.uk). The women on maternity leave does not have to lose all other benefits and privileges while on leave. Men in the organization are eligible for parternity leave of 2 weeks. The leave begins one day or one week after birth but the father must give a notice of 28 days in advance. Ordinary paternity pay is £ 138.18 or 90% of average weekly earnings whichever is lower. An employee also has the right to request for flexible working. This is available for all employees in the organization and not only parents. However, the employee must have worked for the organization for 26 weeks to be eligible. The employer can also refuse the request if they have a good business reason for doing so. The types of flexible working offered in the organization include: job sharing, part-time, flexitime, and compressed hours. The employees also have right to emergency leave for dependant’s sake. Dependants include spouse, partner, child, parent or someone who depends on the employee for care (Gov.uk). The employee in this case is allowed reasonable time but it all depends on the situation and the employee is paid for time off. However, if the employee knew the situation before hand, he/she cannot be given emergency leave. Fair treatment of employees is crucial in maintaining employment relationship. The Employment Rights Act (2010) prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, disability, age, gender, religion, nationality or any other protected characteristics. As such, according to Equal Pay Act of 1970 demands that employers give equal pay for equal work regardless of gender. Men and women are thus to be paid same amount for equal work. Failure to od so could lead to legal litigations hence it is only appropriate to comply with the law and treat employees fairly. Treating employees fairly could also result in improved employer-employees relationship and minimize grievances that impact on organization success. Those who are treated unfairly are likely to feel they do not belong to the company hence are less motivated. It could also lead to increased absenteeism and staff turnover due to worker dissatisfaction. It is only appropriate to treat workers fairly to avoid such issues. Discrimination is treating employees unfavorably based on the protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act of 2010. One area of discrimination legislation is based on sex. It is unlawful to discriminate anybody due to their gender. Direct discrimination in this case entails treating someone less favourably because of their actual or perceived sex, or because of the sex of someone with whom they associate such as not employing a woman because of her gender (Acas). Indirect discrimination occurs if policies and procedures disadvantage workers of particular sex. For example, requiring job applicants to be muscular or strong could discriminate women. This type of discrimination can only be justified if it is a means to achieve legitimate aims. Harassment occurs if conduct related to sex violates individual’s dignity while victimization is treating an employee unfairly for supporting sex discrimination complaint. Race discrimination is when employees are treated unfavorably due to their color, nationality, race and national origin. Refusing to employ someone because of their race is direct discrimination while policies and procedures that aplly to all but disadvantage people of particular race is indirect discrimination. Unwanted conduct related to race is harassment while others may be victimized for supporting a race discrimination claim. The Disability Discrimation Act of 1995 prohibits discrimination based on disability Disability in this case refers to physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Equality of opportunity for people with disabilities should be promoted. Failure to build accessible buildings for the disabled is considered discrimination or not providing them with facilities they can be able to work with. Age discrimination is treating employee unfavorable due to their age according to Equality Act 2010. Economic factors such as business needs and efficiency may be legitimate aims for age discrimination. The Equality Act also states there is no upper age limits on unfair dismissal and redundancy. A psychological contract entails mutual obligations between employer and employees. The employer agrees to pay employees ages and provide good working conditions in return for productivity or returns on investments. The employer thus expects commitment to goals, creativity and innovation, and team-playing. Employees on the other hand, expect fair and respectful treatment, good working relationships, and empowerment. Good practice requires employers to develop policies and procedures that supports the psychological contract. Developing good performance management and reward systems as well as open communication can support policies and psychological contract. Employees should be free to air their views and get involved in decision making to enhance creativity and innovation hence commitment and engagement. Line managers should work hand in hand with employees to ensure performance goals are achieved and that employees needs are met while the employees should work hard to meet their set targets and achieve high performance for organizational success. 3MER Part C The report indicates the approach to n dismiss and terminate employment. The organization has policies and procedures in place as to how to deal with dismissals, termination and redundancy. Before such steps can be taken, proper disciplinary procedures are applied. For example, the organization has a disciplinary committee to deal with disciplinary cases with includes employee representatives. From such committess, one is given first and second warnings before further action such as termination is taken if the employee does not change behaviour. Fair dismissal arises when the organization has followed a fair dismissal procedure. Five fair reasons for dismissal include: gross misconduct of employee, redundancy, legal restrictions, capability and other reasons determined by case law. Unfair dismissals on the other hand, occur if proper dismissal procedure is not followed or due to unfair reasons such as being a member of trade union, asserting a statutory right, maternity related issues, due to demand for minimum wage, disclosing fraud or corruption or refusing to work on a religious holiday. Read More