Why People Are the Most Important Elements in an Organization - Coursework Example

An Essay on Management Theory Name of Student: Name of Professor: Name of Course: Code of the Course: Date of Submission: An Essay on Management Theory Every organization desires to be successful. For this reason, it is the aim of every manager to ensure that he/she takes advantage of all the resources available to an organization. Generally, managers have differing managerial capacities and perceptions as to what is the greatest asset to an organization. Ideally every manager upholds a specific management theory. It should also be appreciated that the differences arise from the fact that every organization is unique in its own way. For this reason, each organization is affected by a specific set of operating, production and market factors which necessitate for a manager to come up with an equally unique management strategy to cope with the factors appropriately. As a result of this different managers have different opinions as to what is the most important element in an organization. Some say that it is technology, others point out that it is technology, others globalization among other elements. However, I am of the view that people are the most important elements to an organization. The following essay will give an in-depth discussion explaining the reason as to why people are the most important elements in an organization. The essay will also give a strategy of ensuring that people become an important element to an organization. To start off the discussion, it is worthy to echo the words of Economist Gary S. Becker who was also a Nobel Laureate. Becker said, “The basic resource in any company is the people”. The most successful companies and the most successful countries will be those that manage human capital in the most effective and efficient manner” (Becker 1964, p.10). On this point, the important function of the people/ human resources in implementing and executing an organization’s processes, tasks and strategies can be acknowledged. Basically, an organization cannot be able to meet its objectives without its people. For the purposes of this paper, the people will be referred to as human resources. With respect to the achievement of an organization’s goals and objectives, it is worth identifying the basic operations of any organizations. Generally, an organization has a given set of goals and objectives which it wants to achieve within a given time. The goals and objectives are normally contained in a strategic plan (Davidsson & Honig 2003, p.302). A competent workforce is required for the establishment and development of an appropriate strategic plan. It should be appreciated that a strategic plan determines the success of an organization. The better the plan is, the more the organization is likely to succeed. A good strategic plan would be useless if it is not implemented effectively. The people who are responsible for its implementation are the human resources. This means that its success is dependent on its successful implementation. For this reason, it is important to ensure that a strategic plan is accepted by the human resource. The goals and the objectives of an organization must be shared by all the stake holders in the organization. This ensures that they work towards their achievement. In addition to the above, it is also worth noting that the processes in an organization are organized in simple tasks. All these tasks are integrated in one process or project which has a specific output. The human resources are responsible for the implementation of the individual tasks. The more they do their task effectively, the more productive the organization is. Moreover, they must work as a team so as to ensure that the process is complete. From the discussion above, it can be noted that human resources are an important element in the productivity of an organization (Shane & Venkatraman 2000, p.218). They are responsible for the implementation and execution of an organization’s strategies which in turn makes them key determinants of its output. This makes people an indispensable element in an organization’s strive to success. The second factor which makes people an important element in an organization is innovation. On this point, it can be acknowledged that the modern competitive business world call for much more that a product (Read 2000, p.95). The main objective of a business organization is no longer making profit; but to satisfy customer needs after which it makes profits. In order to satisfy a customer’s needs, an organization must come up with a unique product which meets the specific needs of the market. This calls for innovation in the whole life cycle of a product. The people who are responsible for innovation in an organization are the human resources. Ideally, every modern organization has innovation at its heart. It is a key determinant to its sustainability and consequently success (Chandler & Hanks 1998, p.354). Linking up innovation with human resources, it can be acknowledged that a strategic human resource is a collection of talents, knowledge, experience and competencies. Every organization should aim at ensuring that it gets the right people to work for itself. Taking an example of reputable companies such as Apple, Google and the Marriot hotels, it can be acknowledged that innovation has played a key role in their success. The innovation can be traced back to the wide human resource capital which is characterized to great talent and experience (Chandler & Hanks 1998, p.354). Simply put, the human resources of the companies above are a backbone to its success in the market. However, an organization’s management must have innovation in its core values in order to encourage it in its employees (Martins & Terblanche 2003, p. 65). There are several companies which reward their employees for their innovation ideas. An example of such a company is Google. This reflects positively on an organization’s productivity. Taking a reference to Google, it can be acknowledged that the innovative products from the company which includes such products as the Android operating system and the phone manufacturing ventures which the company has gone into as direct products of the company’s innovative human resources. From the discussion above, it can be seen that innovation, which is a key factor associated with employees, is a major factor which influences the success of an organization. Another factor related to the human resource/ people which influences the success of an organization is that human resources provide an organization with a competitive advantage (Pfeffer 1994, p.23). As identified earlier, an organization should strive at ensuring that it has the right people working for it. Basically, an organization should aim at getting the most competent employees to work for it. It is after which an organization benefits from the services of the acquired employees. Generally, keeping other factors constant, the more competent a human resource is, the more productive it is. This explains the reason as to why companies which have rigorous recruitment and selection systems such as Google, Delloite & Touché, the Marriott Hotels, and Emirates Airlines among others continuously record good profits. This is due to the fact that they have a competent labor force which enables it to be more productive hence meeting and surpassing the current market standards. The poaching of employees illustrates the competitive advantage which competent employees hold. It is a common scenario in the modern business world to see a company poaching employees from its competitors. One of the industries which are characterized by employee poaching is the media industry. The media industry serves as a good example of the competitive advantage which employees give to their companies. Taking an example of a news anchor, it can be seen that a media house which has a prominent media anchor is much more likely to attract a large audience as opposed to an organization which has less prominent anchors. The moving of journalists and presenters from CNN, Aljazeera and BBC among other prominent media houses is an illustration of the competitive advantage which organizations acquire from having competent employees. Therefore, the specific skills, knowledge and experience which employees have are a source of a competitive advantage to an organization (Borthwick 2011. p.509). Lastly, people can be regarded to as an important element in an organization’s successes due to the fact that they provide a market to an organization in addition to shaping an image for an organization in the market (Collen 2013, p.1). Therefore, it can be acknowledged that the people play an important role in marketing an organization. Marketing is an important function in an organization. It ensures that an organization is able to sell its products; hence achieving success. An organization’s human resources aids in marketing in two ways. First of all, the human resources provide an organization with a ready market. An organization whose employees purchase its products is generally a successful one. This is due to the fact that the employees trust the products; hence guaranteeing that they trust the quality of the products which they produce. Secondly, they have the purchasing power to purchase the product, hence indicating that their remuneration is good enough to provide them with the ability to purchase the products which they produce. On a broader picture, it means that the products are affordable. This affordability and the quality of a product makes an organization successful. On the second perspective, it can be acknowledged that an organization derives its human resources from the society (Borthwick 2011, p.509). Therefore, the employees are often part of an organization’s target market. As a result of this, the employees play a major role in painting the image of an organization in the market. The image created may be both negative and positive. If the organization treats the employees badly, the image which will be taken to the market will be negative. On the other hand, an organization which treats its employees well will have high chances of having a positive image in the market. The market image of an organization is very important in determining its achievement of success. The better the image, the higher the chances of an organization being successful. From the above discussion, it can be seen that that people play an important role in the marketing hence determining the success of an organization. Taking into account that human resources lay an important role in the success of an organization, it is important that an organization finds a way of getting the right people to work for it. An organization should have a strategic human resource management system (Gardener, Reithel, Foley, Cogliser & Walumbwa 2009. p.437). It should start with an appropriate recruitment system which ensures that an organization is able to get the most competent workforce in the market. Modern organizations are moving towards adopting E- recruitment systems due to the various advantages associated with it. Secondly, an organization should establish an appropriate selection system which ensures that it is able to select the most competent employees from the many candidates which apply for job positions. Thirdly, an organization should set up a system of empowering/ developing employees. This ensures that their performance is maximized (Shane & Venkatraman 2000, p.218). Lastly, an organization should look for appropriate ways of retaining their employees. This ensures that they benefit from their skills, knowledge and experience for a long period of time. In conclusion, it can be seen from this essay that the people are the most important element in influencing an organization’s success. This essay concurs with Becker in his statement that “the basic resource in any company is the people. The most successful companies and the most successful countries will be those that manage human capital in the most effective and efficient manner”. The essay has given an in depth discussion of the human resources and their impact on the success of an organization. From the discussion, it has been seen that human resources form the core all the activities in an organization, making it the most valuable asset to an organization. The essay has identified that human resources are important in the implementation and execution of an organization’s strategies. This enables it to meets its goals and objectives. Secondly, human resources enables and organization to have a competitive advantage over its competitors. Thirdly, it has been seen that human resources increase the innovation in an organization which in turn translates to success. Lastly the people have an important influence on marketing, hence enabling an organization sell its products hence being more successful. From this essay, it can be concluded that the people are indeed important element in an organizations. References Becker, G.S., 1964. Human Capital. Columbia University Press, New York Borthwick, F, 2011. People Can be A Organizations Core Competence, pp.506-535 Chandler, N., & Hanks, S., 1998. An Examination of the Substitutability of Founders' Human and Financial Capital in Emerging Business Ventures, Journal of Business Venturing. Vol.13, no.1; pp. 353–369 Collen, R., 2013. The Relationship between Marketing & Human Resources, Chron, Retrieved on 18th 2013 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/relationship-between-marketing-human-resources-10287.html Davidsson, P., & Honig, B., 2003. The Role of Social and Human Capital among Nascent Entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Venturing Vol. 18, no.1; pp. 301–331 Gardener, W., Reithel, B., Foley, R., Cogliser, C., & Walumbwa, F., 2009. Management Communication Quarterly Vol. 22 no. 3 437-472 Martins, E., & Terblanche, F., 2003.Building Organizational Culture That Stimulates Creativity And Innovation, European Journal Of Innovation Management, Vol. 6, no. 1, pp.64 - 74 Pfeffer, J., 1994. Competitive Advantage through People. Harvard Business School Press, Boston Read, A., 2000. Determinants of Successful Organizational Innovation: A Review of Current Research, Journal of Management Practice, Vol.3, no.1, pp. 95-119 Shane, S., & Venkatraman, S., 2000. The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field Of Research, Academy of Management Journal. Vol.25, no.1; pp. 217–226 Read More