Human Resource Management Theory and Employee Performance - Literature review Example

HRM Theory and Employee performance Name: Joel Macdonald Student #: 22113444 Course Coordinator: Vivienne Interrigi, Mary Tseros Due Date: 07.01.11 Introduction Human resources are individuals who work for a corporation and management of human resource is concerned with how these individuals are managed. Strategic human resource management involves linking human resources with strategic objectives and goals so as to improve organizational performance and establish an organizational culture that foster innovation, competitive advantage, and flexibility. It is designed to help organizations to meet the needs of workers whilst promoting organization goals. Strategic human resource management is the practical management of employees. It entails planning ways in which an organization can meet the requirements of employees and how workers can accomplish the needs of the organization (Knippenberg, 2000). Human relations theory also known as motivational theory has its roots in the Hawthorne experiments conducted by Elton Mayo at Western electrical company in 1920s. According to Bruce, (2006), researchers conducting the experiment placed two groups of workers who were performing the same job into separated rooms. One group of employees was treated as a control while the second group of employees was exposed to several experimental stimuli like decreased lighting, increased lighting, and rest pauses. The employees in the experimental and control groups were treated as special, given attention by the management, detached from other workers and encouraged to perform. However, the so called Hawthorne effect was not foreseen by this analysis. Instead, the company aspired to illustrate that an increased degree of illumination within a working area increased productivity, thus encouraging employers to expend more cash on electricity for the corporation. They then conducted a study on the way productivity differed with levels of illumination. Nevertheless, the outcomes of the analysis revealed that ant alterations in levels of illumination tended to improve levels of productivity, and productivity also significantly increased in the control group. This was entirely the contrary of Mayo expectations, and generated a completely novel branch of management theory. According to Hartman and Moser (2004), the central feature of human relations theory is that, when employees are being included and observed in the research, they feel more significant and valued by the organization. As a consequence, their levels of productivity increased significantly. This research went against the idea that management required to control employees and eliminate their autonomy at each step. Instead, it revealed that engaging with employees and considering their needs and requirements, organizations could gain from increase performance and productivity. Another significant portion of human relations theory emerged from another experiment by Mayo, the bank wiring experiment. This experiment entailed monitoring production of a group of employees who were doing job as a group to make electrical components. This study revealed that the entire group decided on production level, deliberately failing to generate their maximum output despite of potential bonus offered by the management. This demonstrated that factors like peer pressure and the wish for harmony in the group superseded each economic consideration that employees held. Hiam (2002) argued that management is supposed to endorse good communication with employees and establish a link with their workers. The managers are not required to only focus on corporation goals and entirely regulate employees and workers needs to feel that they are valued more than merely on a financial basis. Human relations theory entail fitting employees into work situations in order to motivate them they to work jointly with harmony. This procedure of fitting employees into the entire organization achieves increased productivity levels for an organization, while bringing workers social, psychological, and economic satisfaction. The success of any organization is largely dependent on motivation of employees. Human resources are fundamental to the performance, prosperity, and productivity of an organization and motivation is the only way of generating an environment where best possible performances. Hartman & Moser (2004) define motivation as an internal force and desire that drives employees to accomplish organizational goals and tasks. Therefore human resource management should consider development and growth of employees a main part of planning process as they set goals and objectives for team members and in order to do it efficiently, managers must recognize what motivates every employee. In contemporary workplace human resources are more valued than other resources within the organization. Motivated workers are happy, productive, and committed to execute their duty and meet organizational goals. Every person has his personal set of personal incentives and motivations to work hard. Some people are motivated by recognition while others are motivated by monetary incentives. Whatever employees’ motivation may be, the key to promote the motivation as a human resource manager is recognizing the incentive. Employee incentive programs make sure that workers feel appreciated and meaningful in an organization. These programs are individualized so as to suit the wants and needs of each employee. Incentive programs promote motivation through encouraging productive performance and also through showing workers that the organization cares about their needs. The most important effect of increased workers motivation is that of increased performance and productivity. Workers incentives programs promote harmony in work place, employee performance and employee motivation which is the key to an organizations long term benefits and success. Silverstein (2007) argues that motivated workers means employee retention and organization loyalty, which has a considerable effect on the development and growth of the company. Workers incentive programs function by providing rewards for terrific performance, results, or hard work. Employees, who are able to meet targets, excel in their duties and are rewarded for their efforts. For instance, a sales employee who works hard to increase the number of clients is completed for the good work done. When workers have a greater sense of motivation, they will usually have job satisfaction and increased work performance. In a literature review included in Journal of management development, Garg and Rastogi examined preexisting studies so as to determine the most efficient way of increasing workers performance and discovered that Job design is a vital motivational factor. When tasks are designed for workers there is reduced work related stress, and workers feel as if they are doing meaningful jobs and that they are knowledgeable of and responsible for outcomes of their work. Therefore employees will display improved work performance (Garg & Rastogi, 2005). The incentives and rewards differ and may be as personal as the workers themselves since different employees are motivated by different incentives. Incentive programs work since they offer different rewards that meet the requirements of the entire organization. According to Hartman, & Moser, (2004), in order to maximize motivation of employees through employee incentives, it is important for the human resource management must recognize and understand the needs of the employees. This can be accomplished by the management spending time in figuring out what employees really want out of a particular incentive program. The management should find out what motivates employees and the way they want to be recompensed for their productive performance. If management does this, they will be capable to execute a program on basis of individualized requirements of their employees. Arrangement for the compensation of working overtime is a good example of such programmes. Any employee who works beyond the normal working hours need to be rewarded for the dedication displayed. Mayo’s theory of human relations stresses that managers are supposed to focus more on the interests of workers, and treat them as individuals who have valuable opinions and realize that employees enjoy intermingling together. Mayo concluded that employees are best motivated by better communication between workers and managers, greater involvement of managers in the working lives of employees and working in teams or groups. In practice thus organizations are supposed to re-organise production so as to promote increased use of team work and introduce personnel departments so as to encourage increased involvement of managers in looking after the interests of employees. When employees work effectively to generate good results and the management does not recognize employees sincerity and hard work, the care higher chances of decreasing employees motivational levels. Motivation of workers may look like a simple task, but it is quite a hard task for the human resource management to implement an efficient way. Managers are supposed to give the needed feedback for their employees. Feedback majorly helps the workers to improve skills at work and helps them to perform more for the organization. Therefore, if managers need to give employees suitable feedback, it is essential for them to frequently evaluate the performance of employees. Managers should be systematic in assessing the performance of the employees and link their performance to the compensation program, so that employees can take it with seriousness. Ensuring that employees are aware of organization goals and results is an important step that managers should consider when motivating their workers. If employees are not aware of the organizations targets and goals, then it apparently reflects on the general performance and consequently on organizational results. Therefore, it is very essential for human resource management to make sure that there is a data flow that can reach their employees and this assists them to always remain motivated. Management is supposed to teach employees the basics of the organization and this is a best way of inspiring workers to make sure that their basics are correct and the management has to offer them the required financial incentives. It is also fundamental to make sure that workplace conditions and atmospheres within their office are conductive to a healthy working environment. Hiam, (2002) argues that offering employees with improvement options is a great way of motivating employees. If the management succeeds in making employees realize the significance of continuous learning, it may help employees to usually stay in touch with their work and also aids them in improving their work skills. Management is not supposed to expect instant improvement on employee performance. When developing ways of motivating employees, management is not supposed to anticipate for immediate or noticeable improvement in performance of their employees. They must always keep in mind that not all employees will react in a similar manner to motivation efforts. The major objective of employee motivation is to make sure that the management is doing their best to motivate their employees properly and offering them with fundamental tools, which they really require to succeed in their work (Perry et al, 2006). There is a connection between an Organization and employee performance motivation. Knippenberg performed a literature review in order to establish how organizational identification is linked to employee performance and motivation. His review, found in Applied Psychology Journal, found out that it is very significant for workers to view themselves as important members of their organization. When workers regard themselves as part of a group, they display increased job motivation and job performance. Nevertheless, if workers recognize themselves solely as portion of a subgroup in the work culture other than as a portion of the whole organization, workers performance and motivation is decreased (Knippenberg, 2000). Financial incentives are widespread motivational tactic applied by human resources management. Utilization of alternative pay schemes like offering workers with stock or other profit sharing alternatives are effective motivators and improve workers performance. Performance based reimburse schemes motivate workers in private sector work to improve performance, but the systems to not generated the needed outcomes in jobs in public sector. The most efficient way to use financial incentives to motivate employees and increase performance is to mix them with public recognition and positive feedbacks for accomplishments. Perry and his fellows established that goal setting functions as an effective factor for motivating employees and improving work performance. When workers set goals, mainly those that are very specific and challenging, they feel that their inputs are significant to the organization and are therefore more probable to do their best in order to accomplish those goals. Increased performance from goal setting is likely to takes place when accomplishment of the goal is recompensed by financial means (Perry et al, 2006). Employees who are engaged company’s decision making process and feel that they have a say in the organization have a greater job satisfaction. Organizational participation was is not one of the most efficient factor for motivating employees. While participation in the company leads to improved company decisions and has lasting prospect for increasing the performance of the organization, participation of workers only slightly increases individual job performance. Conclusion The human relations management theory views the success of an organization being dependent on motivation of employees. Human resources are essential to the prosperity, productivity and performance of a company and motivation is the best way of creating an environment that increases employee performance. The Mayo experiments elucidated that employee needed social needs and esteem so as to increase performance and were not only concerned with financial incentives, but were best motivated when their social needs were met at work. Therefore managers must focus on needs and interests of their employees and treat them as individuals who have valuable opinions. References Bell, D., (2003). Adjusting men to machines: Social Scientists Explore the World of the Factory, Commentary, 3(194): 79-88. Bruce, K., (2006). Henry Dennison, Elton mayo and Human relations historiography. Management and organizational history, 1(2): 177-199. Garg, P., & Rastogi, R., (2005). New model of job design: Motivating employees’ performance. Journal of management development, 25(6): 572-587. Hartman, R., & Moser, E., (2004). Incentive programs to improve transit employee performance. New York: Elsevier. Hiam, A., (2002). Streetwise motivating and rewarding employees: new and better ways to inspire your people. London: Arnold Publishers. Knippenberg, D., (2000). Work motivation and performance: A social identity perspective. Journal of applied psychology, 89(6): 1008-1022. Perry et al (2006). Motivating employees in a new governance era: The performance paradigm revisited. Public administration review, 66(1): 505-514. Silverstein, B., (2007). Motivating employees: Bringing out the best in your people. New York: HarperCollins. Read More