Category: HRM Dissertations

Our sample HRM dissertations will prove helpful in formulating your own dissertation topic, objectives, literature review, methodology and analyses.

Our sample HRM dissertations are an ideal tool for any student struggling to start their own HRM dissertation. Human Resource Management is an essential part of any organisation and there are many components of HRM. Human Resources Management (HRM) can encompass a wide range of topics:

Training and Development, HR in Practice, HR Theory, Employee Welfare, Staff Turnover, Recruitment, Performance Management, Appraisals, Motivation, Strategic HRM, Job Satisfaction, Staff Retention, Culture and Diversity.

HRM Dissertations

HR Performance Motivation

HR Performance Issues and Motivation

“Do not discipline employees who are unable to perform a task. Discipline those who are able to perform a task, but are unwilling or unmotivated to succeed” – SANS Leadership and Management Competencies course book in HR performance.

Understanding HR performance and the motivations of employees in order to identify and correct performance issues is fundamental to effective Human Resource management. Because of this, there is a wealth of research related to understanding the underlying causes and effects of good and bad employee performance. The goal is to figure out where the problem originates and to develop ways to correct those problems.

HR performance and Motivation theories are abundant but all originate from the experts considered to be fathers of motivation theory; Maslow and Herzberg. Early motivation theorists like Abraham Maslow and Frederick Hertzberg, laid the foundation upon which modern motivation theory is built. Their work has guided research in this area of study since the late 1950’s and early 60’s (Hendriks, 1999).

Yet as the workplace has evolved and diversified over the last several decades, so have the perspectives on motivation theory. The foundation has remained the same, but the perspectives are changing and elaborating what was original hypothesized by Maslow and Herzberg.

Take for instance Maslow’s need hierarchy theory. Maslow theorized that human motivation is driven by five needs: the need for shelter or safety, food and water, love and respect, recognition and fulfillment. These needs are organized in a hierarchy based on basic needs and “higher-order” needs; food and shelter are basic needs, recognition, love, fulfillment and respect are higher-order needs (Hendriks, 1999).

Hertzberg, on the other hand, proposes just two categories in his motivational theory. Herzberg concludes that people are motivated by either extrinsic or intrinsic motives (Gagne’ & Deci, 2005). Mainly, this theory says that either a person is motivated because they like what they are doing, or, they are motivated based on the expectation that they will be rewarded in some way for the work they are doing, this is key to promote good HR performance.

Both theories suggest that employee satisfaction is important to motivation and that in order to keep employees motivated, their needs must continue to be satisfied. Maslow’s theory falls short of prescriptive answers to questions of employee motivation, whereas Hertzberg suggests that employers can maintain employee satisfaction by considering the intrinsic and extrinsic motives of their employees when adopting rewards incentives and HR performance (Davoren, n.d.).

While Maslow and Herzberg’s theories in their broader applications have become less applicable as the workforce and workplace has changed, the fundamental basis of these theories is still sound and relevant to current motivational and HR performance theory.

Among some of the more recent expansions on motivation theory include the Commitment and Necessary Effort (CANE) motivation Model, Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET). Motivation theory has been applied to understanding motivation in many different areas, including in sports, academic achievement and business. These theories applied in business can help solve HR performance issues and improve employee motivation.

The CANE motivation model tries to incorporate the many different aspects of motivation theory. It takes the best approaches of modern research, and combines them into one all-encompassing theory that can be used to understand the motivations of professionals with knowledge based jobs (Clark, 1998). These types of jobs, white collar jobs that require some expertise and professional knowledge, usually involve incentives for attracting highly educated professionals. Understanding the interaction of rewards systems and motivators that guide those professionals is very important for HR recruitment.

Clark argues that some strategies in the area of organizational development overestimate the effect that employee incentives like contests and performance recognition have on employee motivation (Clark, 1998). These strategies are widely used as a means to increase worker productivity. However, some research studies have suggested that studies that show that these strategies work to improve motivation are “fatally flawed” and that these strategies may not have as much power to influence employee behavior as previously thought (Clark, 1998).

The CANE Model says that motivation and HR performance is two-pronged and intertwined. First, motivation is based on commitment to a goal. The second is the amount of effort that goes into achieving that goal (Clark, 1998). If an employee is motivated by a commitment to achieving their goal, he or she will remain focused on that goal even if they are tempted to focus on other less important goals. Once that level of commitment is achieved, the effort needed to achieve the goal, or the “Necessary Effort”, will sustain the motivation to complete the task. If the task is perceived as important, then the necessary effort to complete the task is tied to its importance.

Though Maslow and Herzberg’s theories are becoming outdated, the CANE Model falls short of unifying motivation theory into one model because of its limitations in broad application. It is too broad to explain the nuance effects that culture and diversity have on individual definitions of commitment, effectiveness and control (Clark, 1998). Not to mention that broad solutions to problems of motivation in the workplace can only be identified by this model; applying those solutions to specific job performances is more difficult and requires more specialized solutions.

Self-Determination Theory has evolved not only through theoretical analysis but has also held up in empirical studies. SDT relies heavily on needs based theory, but the needs are more psychological in nature. Satisfying these psychological needs, according to Self-Determination Theory, motivates behavior and also elucidates the processes that direct action (Gagne’ & Deci, 2005).

In this theory, by determining underlying psychological needs, employers can appeal to the intrinsic motivations of employees to correct performance issues and to increase motivation. Intrinsic motivation is driven by internal satisfaction. This involves the motivation that comes from being engaged in an activity that brings personal satisfaction. It is unrelated to any material reward. An employee is motivated by a psychological need to be challenged or to feel a sense of accomplishment (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Since all behaviors are at their core driven psychologically, research in the area of Self-Determination Theory has tried to discern which of these psychological needs are being fulfilled by intrinsic motivation. What has been concluded is that intrinsic motivation can be encouraged and facilitated by environment since intrinsic motivation is not caused but rather “catalyzed” into action when the conditions are right (Ryan & Deci, 2000).”

Lastly, Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET) which is one aspect of Self-Determination Theory finds that intrinsic motivation can be produced by offering encouragement and feedback that satisfies a sense of accomplishment and competence in employees (Ryan & Deci, 2000). This can be done using rewards for achievement; a bonus for timely turnaround or for reaching a sales goal. But employees can also be intrinsically motivated by words of encouragement that satisfy the same psychological need for feeling competent; a pat on the back or a ‘good job’ goes a long way.

Work performance is directly affected by job satisfaction and motivation. The work performance is the outcome. When working from the intrinsic motivation model, appealing to the internal psychological needs of employees can increase job satisfaction, which in turn sparks motivation and finally produces an improved work performance. Understanding the means to increase job satisfaction is the crux of resolving performance issues and positively motivating employees.

Solutions to performance issues should be evaluated at all levels. Just because an employee is not performing satisfactorily doesn’t mean that the problem lies with the employee. Sometimes, the problem is in management style or a lack of resources to do the job right. These things can exacerbate poor performances when the employee feels that they are not being given the proper tools to complete their job or receiving the necessary feedback to do the job correctly (Lister, n.d.). By simply rewarding exceptional behavior or providing constructive feedback for poor performance, an employer can improve job satisfaction and thereby resolve performance issues.

Therefore, assessing the needs of the group can allow employers to predict how those assessments will effect “job satisfaction and work outcome” (Gagne’ & Deci, 2005). Also, evaluating the types of needs that are being satisfied can affect job satisfaction and outcome. Herzberg presents two different factors in employee motivation. There are hygiene factors, the more superficial needs, and the motivation factors, which include more intrinsic motives.

Among hygiene factors that Herzberg identified are things like salary and work conditions. Motivation factors on the other hand, include things like personal achievement, opportunities for promotion, and a sense of responsibility (Hendriks, 1999). These factors have a direct and indirect effect on job satisfaction and performance. Hygiene factors according to Herzberg’s theory mostly affect motivation in a negative way; by the very absence of things like good working conditions and status, job satisfaction is decreased (Hendriks, 1999).

Consider a garbage man whose job performance has gone down. His work has slowed and he seems clearly dissatisfied with his job. Upon evaluation, HR has discovered that the employee is dissatisfied with his salary. He has been on the job for several years without promotion and without pay increases. According to both Maslow and Herzberg’s theories of motivation, his job dissatisfaction is rooted in one of his intrinsic and basic needs not being met; salary, food and shelter.

But further analysis supports Herzberg’s theory that there is a second prong to this employee’s dissatisfaction and poor HR performance. He has not received a promotion, which is more than mere dissatisfaction with his salary; it implies that he is dissatisfied because he is not receiving the recognition that he feels that he deserves for the time and commitment he has given to his employer. By not relating to the psychological need for recognition, which has its own intrinsic reward for the employee, the employer is partly to blame for the performance issue and lack of motivation.

To resolve any HR performance problem, the employer must first identify the causes of the problem and then seek to improve job satisfaction through proper motivation. In this scenario, showing that management cares about his input and recognizes his many years of contribution by giving him a raise or a new promotion or job title, can help to resolve those performance issues by appealing to the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of the employee.

Works Cited

Bong, K. (n.d. ). HR Performance Management Laboratory.

Clark, R. E. (1998). Motivating HR Performance – Diagnosing and Solving Motivation Problems. Performance Improvement. Los Angeles: University of Southern California.

Davoren, J. (n.d.). What Types of Rewards Would Motivate Workers in an Organization?

Gagne’, M., & Deci, E. L. (2005). Self-determination theory and work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 331-362.

Hendriks, P. (1999). Why Share Knowledge and HR Performance? The Influence of ICT on the Motivation for Knowledge Sharing. Knowledge and Process Management , 91-100.

Lister, J. (n.d.). Examples of a Motivational and HR Performance Issues in an Organization.

Pintrich, P. R. (2000). An Achievement Goal Theory Perspective on Issues in HR Performance and Motivation Terminology, Theory, and Research. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 92-104.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions of HR Performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 54-67.

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Strategic Issues HRM

Strategic Issues in HRM

Owing to the globalization, many companies have begun setting up their business boundaries beyond a single place. They are going from their primary market to other countries in order to have access to the much larger international market (Heidenreich, 2012). In management terms, the foreign countries where these businesses attempt to set up are the host countries while the country where the corporation has its head office is the home country. Multinational companies are a function of sovereign companies, each focusing on its domestic markets. But the independence of the subsidiary is not always true since a lot of times the subsidiary also has to borrow the policies of the parent company. While multi-nationalization is an organization wide phenomenon, dealing with the employees, from recruiting to managing is the job of the human resource department. It is assumed that Human resource management is a soft skill; however effective practice within the organization demands a much strategic focus in order to confirm that the organizational goals can be achieved via human resource. Today, when the terms ‘strategy’ and ‘human resource’ are combined, it means that the human resources becomes responsible for adopting the steps and practices to achieve the longer term organizational goals and objectives (Jiang, 2012).

There are not only the huge advantages that the multinational are benefitted from the host and the home country but also, there exist several critical strategic issues that these companies have to face. However, there are a lot of advantages the host country gets from multinationals in the form of investment opportunities, income for unemployed resulting in a much better standard of living. Speaking of multi-nationals, the main idea behind these multinational organizations is that they organize as per the local responsiveness in order to be efficient worldwide (Shah, 2012). This local responsiveness does not always hold true; some firms borrow the policies of the parent company assuming it to be better for the overall corporate results.

Misalignment of subsidiary from overall corporate strategy

Moving from one country to another creates the problem of misalignment between various departments and the overall corporate strategy. Usually the problem occurs when the human resource department is not aligned with the parent company’s mission and vision as it begins operations in another country to adapt as per local standards. The drift in one department of the organization causes the entire subsidiary to shake up as a result of unguided principles and policies.

Cultural diversity

Besides the merits of multinationals, one major strategic issue that the Human resource manager faces is based on the fact that when companies go global they tend to have a diverse workforce in their organization. And it is this organizational diversity that makes managing people across various religious, cultures, and standards, a major problem in implementing the goals of the organization as a team. Talking of diverse workforce culture, when a company moves from a country where unethical practices are considered to be the norm to a country that has stringent policies against any unethical practice, it is at that time when the problem for the management takes a start. For example, in countries such as Saudi Arabia, where bribery is thought to be the norm to run the business but such a practice is highly disregarded and looked down at in countries such as Brazil (Rose, 2012). Then managing employees from such a background becomes a problem for the manager in order to ensure that the disease of unethical does not spread in the organization.

Recruitment, selection and placement problems

Recruitment, selection and placement of the employees are the main functions of the human resource managers. However, this function is important and is viewed as the backbone of any business which guides the success or failure of the organization. Studies have also identified the three forms of approaches used to employ people beyond the local boundaries. Of the three approaches quite often multinational companies adopt the ethnocentric approach (CHOY, 2007). For instance had the company have a policy of employing people only from the parent company, the practice of ethnocentrism can pose a difficult situation for HR managers challenging them to train such nationals as per the local standards, policies and demands of the consumers such as American employees going to Saudi Arabia. Given the limited independence to select and recruit the people as HR wills, this diverse workforce tends to pose a problem of controlling of human power, their communication and remuneration.

The differences of employment practices

Another problem that the human resource faces is with respect to the employment practices. Under this are the problems of age, racial, sex and cast discrimination arises of which gender discrimination is very common (Wu, 2008).Given the differing laws and rules in each country it is important for the human resource to go by those laws to sustain and succeed beyond borders. For instance, countries such as India are really high in gender discrimination by restricting management and engineering position to men and softer skills jobs to women. Research by Pudelko (2007) clearly shows that when the a MNC moves from a country that does not offer equal employment opportunities such as India to a country that gives equal employment opportunity such as Thailand, the manager explicitly tends to discriminate the jobs based on gender in the latter case as followed previously in the other country. This happens because the HR manager is accustomed to policies adopted and practiced in the parent company and would be likely to follow the same policies at the subsidiary.

Basic salary and other forms of compensation

Human resource has the major function of motivating its employees to keep them committed to the organizational goal and mission. This motivational strategy largely comes from the compensation that the human resource manager engages in. Other than the selection problems, what is of particular challenge for the HR employer and the employee working in the organization is how to compensate employees in the multi-national context. The concern is how to appropriately measure and manage the compensation of the human power within the organization relative to employee contribution and performance in the MNC. And this is the basic function and duty of the HR managers towards their employees to regularly appraise the performance of its workers and keep giving proper constructive feedback (Sepura, 2009). For instance, if a company is based in the US, it tends to evaluate its employees based on performance only while that is not the case in Japan. Japanese firms value seniority and experience and would evaluate performance based on the employees experience in the industry and his position in the hierarchy (Harzing, 2006; Kono & Clegg, 2001).

Having offices in both developed and developing countries there tends to be a huge gap in the salary payout. For instance, workers working in US might earn 5 times more than their counterparts working in any underdeveloped nation, example India or Pakistan with the same skill set. Here comes the challenge for human resource to make sure that wherever it operates must do so in acceptable and fair boundaries. Nike a well-known company outsourced its manufacturing to Pakistan where under aged children worked for extensive long hours at a very low pay out of around 60 cents (Buckley, 2000). Quite similar is the case of MNCs that operate in low cost countries. In this case, the human resources management may face the ethical issue of whether to narrow the gap in compensation.

When it comes to paying basic salary, it is observed that a lot of MNCs that are fair in their practices want to and try to pay its workers a fair wage that is in line with the wage of their parent company. They also do so to retain and attract the best employees and avoid extensive training costs, but then again such practices are seen as disruptive for the local companies and the economy as a whole. The problem comes in when the local companies are not able to pay as much and this lead to disruption of the entire wage structure (Timo, 2005). As a result of this, the healthy competition falls out and they themselves fail to compete and work towards the economic growth. However, as a result of this factor the human resource is unable to decide again what compensation can work best for the employees. And how can this compensation make the organization seem as a non-disrupting entity which exists for the good of the economy (Marin, 2010).

Industrial relation factors

Freedom, voicing the opinion and autonomy are some concrete terms that are quite popularly used and practiced in countries such as Germany, UK and USA. Industrial relation factors pertaining to workers, employer and unions may vary from country to country. For instance, in much developed and open economies such as Germany, co-determination is the rule. This means that a lot of firms in Germany have their employees speak up and voice their opinion in corporate strategy and company operations such as wage and hour setting but that might not be appreciated elsewhere. For instance in countries like Japan where there is high power distance and a lot of centralization, employee contribution in these areas might not be the norm (McCrae, 2004). Here comes an issue that must be worked over by the human resource manager and this tends to greatly impact the HRM practices. If a multinational company appoints a local from Japan as the head of HR and have some workers from the parent company shifted to the subsidiary, this can create conflicts between the employer and employee. Because the head might not be familiar with the idea of employees collaborating and working together on issues of pay or perhaps other HR related issues, he might consider the employee to be interfering in matters he is not responsible which creates an uncomfortable working environment within the firm.

Attempting a balance between global and local amalgamation

One key challenge facing the MNC Human resource is how to attempt a balance between the global amalgamation and the local adaptation. The dilemma for the human resource is the fact whether it should go by the policies and practices of the home country because it views those practices to be much fair or should it adopt local policies which can be exploitative. When the human resource decides to adopt a fair culture for its employees based on ‘not-so-local’ practices they are accused of exporting the practices of another country and trying to impose it on locals ignoring their traditional and cultural values (Chen, 2008). However, when the human resource decides to go by the standards of the country where they are operating, a problem originates of ‘trying to exploit’ the employees that work under it and not being there for the better living standards of the host country citizens just because the policies of that country are generally exploitative in nature. This puts the practices and workings of the human resource manager at question as to which root to take. All in all, the country of origin for these MNCs is seen to be the major influence in shaping what balance to take (Almond, 2011). Quite a lot of research has been conducted on this issue and it was eventually comprehended that the way MNCs manage their foreign subsidiaries tends to be out of the result of the national origin (Harzing, 2003).Elaborating on the view, Harzing (2003) concluded that although MNCs are quite internationalized, their major controlling practices are determined by their country of origin.

Transferring the policies from the parent company is also much more problematic for the service oriented industries than the manufacturing firms. Because service provision requires the firm to deal with employees and the expectations of the customers who have differing cultural values, the burden of localization falls on the human resource to meet the local customer demands (Gamble, 2003).

Cultural differences

The major cultural differences between various countries demand human resource department to act in accordance with the culture of the country’s foreign subsidiary. Lingual skills form another sort of barrier to most organizational growth. When a company is moving to another country they must make sure they are well aware of that company’s priority and value system in order to enhance the intercultural communication in cross-cultural management (Gullestrup, 2002). A lot of times, employees from the local context tend to prefer to be spoken in their own language because they tend to feel ethnocentric of their culture. For example, in Saudi Arabia, the locals do business in their own language and prefer to be spoken in Arabic only. A company moving to another country must also educate its employees of various languages to settle in well with the local populace. The difficulty for the human resource manager is when they have no knowledge of the culture of another country and do not have the required training to deal with the ethical dilemmas (WriteWork, 2004)

When there is a drift between the values of the parent company and the subsidiary that’s where human resource department has to come in and get to a congruent solution. Culture clashes are the most prominent problem in these businesses. When the company decides to shift, it must have an adaptive approach to its subsidiary, where there is high independence between the parent and the subsidiary and the corporation is much consistent with the local environment (Grewal R, 2008). However, given the senior management, usually it’s the other way round. Subsidiary is expected to borrow a lot of rules from the parents creating cultural differences to take over the legitimacy. Generally, US MNCs have an organizational structure that is often more centralized and formalized; in contrast, Japanese MNCs have strong but informal centralized co-ordination with a network of Japanese expatriate managers, yet are likely to adapt HRM practices to local conditions due to the perceived periphery status of subsidiaries. Now given the different cultures in each country it becomes difficult for the human resource to organize people from one country to the other with the cultural air being so different (Caprar, 2011).

Local labor laws

When a company begins its operations beyond its borders, it is important for them to recognize that the local employment relationship is governed by local labor laws. There are certain countries that favor the employees while there are others that favor the employer. Contrasting the labor laws in America and Europe, there is considerable difference in each area. Taking an example of US, they usually have really brief offer letters stating the pay, compensation, bonus or stock options and at the same time it also includes a statement favoring the employer that sates that the employees might be terminated at any time by the company without giving reasons. This concept of employment is a form of employment contract that is not recognized in any other country because it is seen as harsh and as a result it does not have a legal standing in the court. However, companies that have operated in Japan, Brazil or China would not be appreciative of such HR practices had the parent company been in US had the employer adopted the same policies.

Communication glitches

Communication forms the backbone of any organization. It is only effective when taught rightly by the superior management in the company. Had the communication not been so strong and transparent, it can lead to major ethical problems for the organization as a whole and the HR particularly who is primarily concerned with the effective training of its people. It is the duty of the human resource manager to prepare its employees communication via training. It must be noted that broken communication can lead to corruption problems (Lager, 2010). Corruption might not be that big issues in the developed economies but developing economies do pose a question mark. In a survey in 2012 by Ernst and Young, around 39% people said that corruption occurred quite often in the developing countries (Newswire, 2012). Countries such as Pakistan and Brazil are rated quite high on the corruption continuum. A problem that occurs for the human resource is to prepare its employees shifting, or moving to these countries on how to deal and communicate with the people in such countries.

Four level training to avoid merger failure

It is important to make sure that a harmonious organizational culture is maintained and there is no merger failure of subsidiary and the culture (Weber, 2004). It is extremely important for the managers to train and orient their employees before shifting them to the international operation. Yet a lot of countries even today do not have structured or systematic overseas oriented training practices in order to acquaint them to the foreign country economics and practices. A lot of organizations are realizing the worth of international businesses and have been trying to incorporate the special training in their operations for their employees. This sort of training has four basic levels. The first level deals with cultural awareness. This initiative must be undertaken to acquaint the employees of the cultural differences and it impacts the business outcomes. The second level knowledge must deal with attitude formation as to how the attitude can lead to a particular type of behavior towards other. For instance, managers who form stereotypes tend to view their foreign based employees with a critical eye and unconsciously have a favorable or unfavorable behavior towards them. Level three is the factual knowledge of the country the subsidiary is going to be developed in. And lastly the problem comes of building up skills and adapting to those skills such as language adjustment (Weber, 2004).

Conclusion

However, in order to overcome the problem of strategic differences within the MNC, firms must look into the generic strategic international orientations when crossing the local borders to step in the international market. MNCs and the human power can help and create a hybrid of the strategic orientations in order to make sure that the practices of the host country are molded blue print of the home country corporation so that it meets the local demands of the customers, enable employees to adapt to the local standards to counter the overseas problems and ensure an alignment between the subsidiary and the parent entity.

References

Harzing, A.S., 2003. The relative impact of country of origin and universal contingencies in internationalization strategies and corporate control in multinational enterprises: Worldwide and European perspectives. Organization Studies, 24(2), p. 187.

Almond, P., 2011. Re-visiting ‘country of origin’ effects on HRM in multinational corporations. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(3), pp. 258-71.

Anabel Marin, S.S., 2010. Heterogeneous MNC subsidiaries and technological spillovers: Explaining positive and negative effects in India. Research Policy, 39(9), pp. 1227-41.

Buckley, S., 2000. The Littlest Laborers: Why Does Child Labor Continue To Thrive In The Developing World?

Caprar, D.V., 2011. Foreign locals: A cautionary tale on the culture of MNC local employees. Journal of International Business Studies , 42, pp. 608–28.

CHOY, W.K.W., 2007. Globalization and Workforce Diversity: HRM Implications for Multinational Corporations in Singapore. Singapore Management Review, 29(2), pp. 1-19.

Wu, C., 2008. Overt employment discrimination in MNC affiliates: home-country cultural and institutional effects. Journal of International Business Studies, 39(5), pp. 772-94.

Shah, F. A., 2012. A Critical Review of Multinational Companies, Their Structures and Strategies and Their Link with International Human Resource Management. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 3(5), pp. 28-37.

Gamble, J., 2003. Transferring human resource practices from the United Kingdom to China: the limits and potential for convergence. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14(3), pp. 369-38.

Gullestrup, H., 2002. The Complexity of Intercultural Communication In Cross-Cultural Management. Intercultural Communication and Changing National Identities, (6), pp.1-19.

Grewal R, C.M.D.F., 2008. Navigating Local Environments with Global Strategies: A Contingency Model of Multinational Subsidiary Performance. Marketing Science, 27(5), pp.886-902.

Harzing, A.W.K., 2006. Response styles in cross-national mail survey research: A 26-country study, International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 6, 243-266

Heidenreich, M., 2012. The social embedded of multinational companies: a literature review. Socio-Economic Review, pp. 549–79.

Jiang, K., 2012. How Does Human Resource Management Influence Organizational Outcomes? A Meta-Analytic Investigation Of Mediating Mechanisms .Academy of Management Journal, 55(6), pp. 1264-94.

Kono, T. & Clegg, S., 2001. Trends in Japanese management. Continuing strengths, current problems and changing priorities, Houndmills, New York: Palgrave.

Markus Pudelko, A.-W.H., 2007. HRM practices in subsidiaries of US, Japanese and German MNCs: Country-of-origin, localization or dominance effect? International Business review, pp. 1-40.

McCrae, R.R., 2004. Personality and Culture Revisited: Linking Traits and Dimensions of Culture. Journal of cross cultural psychology, 38(1), pp. 52-88.

Newswire, C., 2012. Only 52% of Canadian companies protect themselves against corruption risks when buying into business globally: Ernst & Young. Regional Business News.

Timo, N., 2005. A survey of employee relations practices and demographics of MNC chain and domestic luxury hotels in Australia. Employee Relations, 27(2), pp. 175-92.

Weber, R. A., 2004. Cultural Conﬂict and Merger Failure: An Experimental Approach. Management Science, 49(4), pp. 400-15.

Chen, R., 2008. The Cost of Doing Business Abroad in Emerging Markets and the Role of MNC Parent Companies. Multinational Business Review, 16(3), pp. 23-39.

Rose, C., 2012. The Corner House Case and the Incomplete Incorporation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in the United Kingdom. Tulane Journal of International & Comparative Law, 20(2), pp. 351-83.

Sepura, 2009. Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. Sepura, pp. 1-6.

WriteWork contributors, 2004. Ethical difficulties faced by multinational companies in today’s business world.

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HRM Employee Relations

Employee Relations

One of the most important factors in any workplace is the relationship between employees and employers. This relationship is sometimes termed as “Employee Relations”, referring to the relationship between employees and employers in an industrial setting. Employees have specified rights over their working conditions and over other matters regarding their pay, redundancy, overtime, promotion, and many other issues. These rights are specified by law and sometimes, also negotiated through trade unions or worker unions in order to influence the decision of employers.

Each country specifies the rights of its workforce differently and some countries give workers higher bounds of protection. In some countries, such as the United States and Great Britain, workers have fought for their own rights over different periods in history and have succeeded in gaining a considerable amount of influence. Great Britain has a minimum wage limit set for its workers and employers all over Great Britain are obligated to at least pay their workers this amount for work they have done. Other laws and statutes protect workers from being overworked, underpaid, or discriminated against for employment and promotional purposes. Laws also outline the type of working conditions and working environment that is essential for workers and the rules as to how/when and in which circumstances, workers can be laid off, fired, or made redundant (Rose, pg 94-111, 2004).

Other factors which also affect employee relations are factors such as pension plans, education plans, training, and disability and injury allowances. Hence, there are a number of factors that employers and employees must be conscious of in the setting of an employment contract (Lewis, pg 110, 2009). Moreover, with the growing influence of employees and with increasing bargaining power, employers must set strategies and approaches in order to effectively deal with the whims and concerns of their employees. No workplace can operate without the employees being properly motivated and satisfied with their work. Dissatisfied employees may mean large losses for the firm and in the case of Great Britain, some lawsuits as well (Rose, pg 98, 2004).

International and Regulatory System

The international system regarding employee welfare and employee relations lacks coercive power and is not able to effectively regulate the conditions offered to employees in various countries. International laws are difficult to implement as each country has their own policy and their own concerns regarding employee welfare. An example of an international law that is difficult to implement is the law against child labor, restricting the number of hours a child under a certain age can work. However, Third World countries are not able to implement this law effectively and child labor is heavily prevalent in such countries The United Kingdom has set a proper regulatory system for employer and employee relations and aims to ensure that both sides receive their fair share. It is alleged at times that employees receive a greater amount of leniency and have more say than the employer in the maintenance of this relationship. However, employees in the UK also have issues regarding the minimum wage, pension plans, and health benefits included in their pay (Lewis, pg. 114-184,2003).

Developed countries such as the UK, Australia, USA, and Canada have regulatory systems which aim to moderate the relationship between employees and employers (mature employee relations). Laws govern the contracts upheld by both parties and the clauses are testable by law. Hence, if one party fails to acknowledge or fulfill a clause mentioned in the contract, that party is liable to punishment by law. However, not all countries have a regulatory system. Most Third World Countries do not have a minimum wage nor an obligation to provide employees with any other benefits. Discrimination and unnecessary redundancy is strongly prevalent in such countries. No system exists to properly assist labor in standing up for their rights. Cheap labor is readily available in less developed countries and developed countries are often found exploiting this situation. Since their own countries have a strong system regulating employer and employee relationship, they avail cheaper labor without any hassles in less developed countries (Lewis, pg 189,2009).

However, the international system and regulatory power for employer and employee relations details issues such as age requirements for work, health benefit plans, job security, minimum wage, and retirement plans. There are several agencies working to aim to secure such benefits for employees all over the world (Hollingshead, pg 24-32, 2010).

Trade unions and worker associations also do not have full acknowledgement and recognition under the laws of many countries. Hence, workers are unable to negotiate terms and conditions with their companies on a large scale or engage in “collective bargaining”. Mainly, in Third World countries it is the blue collared workers or labor class who lack education and awareness of their rights. These people also lack opportunities and hence are exploited by their employers by being offered low wages and practically no-benefits (Rose, pg 156-230, 2004) this will have an adverse effect on employee relations.

White collar workers or skilled labor is more informed regarding international law; hence usually such workers do engage in proper contracts and receive competitive salaries, according to their qualifications. They also receive benefits, health insurance, and retirement plans. Most Third World countries also implement international law upon their own government employees.

Government employees are given proper employee benefits and adequate pays with pay raises whenever adequate. They are treated according to international standards of employer and employee relations (Lewis, pg 89-105, 2003).

However, only one side of the story should not be accounted for as employees also have an obligation to fulfill their duties during the period of employment. International law states that employees may be fired if they fail to perform all their duties. Hence, it is mandatory for employees to also not over emphasize their power. There is also a maximum limit to the pay raises and extra benefits that employees can negotiate and any violent or defaming behavior can lead to arrest and conviction. Unnecessary union formations and illicit use of power is strongly condemned (Jenard & Judge, pg 161, 2005).

International regulations mainly aim to ensure that all employees are given fair opportunities and are not exploited. They aim to prevent discrimination on the basis of age, gender, ethnicity, and background. They also aim to ensure that all employers are protected against illicit employee action and employee strikes. However, all of these regulations are made by separate international organizations. It is difficult for these organizations to implement their policies in all countries or convince governments to adopt their policies. They must convince governments to sign deals and contracts for the adoption of these policies, yet this is a very difficult task. These organizations lack coercive power. They cannot force other countries to adopt these policies if they do not find them beneficial. The act against child labor was upheld by the UN, but lacks serious implementation (Hollingshead, pg 121, 2005).

These countries still have children working long laborious hours in dangerous situations and being paid very little for their efforts. Hence, international regulations have very little influence and power in the global world. They are mostly ineffective and of no practical use. However, they do raise awareness and raise a voice for some potential concerns regarding the work place.

Mostly, these international laws affect workplaces in Great Britain, USA, and other developed countries, where employees are educated and well-informed. Employees raise a voice in sequence with these laws themselves and demand to be given equal rights and opportunities as people in other developed countries receive. This can be exemplified in the new Pension increase movement in Great Britain (Coats, pg 1, 2010).

However, people in less developed countries seldom have many opportunities and are happy with what they receive as payment for their work. They cannot afford to demand more as they will be in danger of losing their job, instead of being given what they deserve. Employers in these countries also lack resources to be able to give their employees such extravagant benefits. International regulations can only help in raising awareness among the educated class and then enabling the workers to fight for their rights themselves. Moreover, despite such strong efforts, discrepancies prevail in countries like the UK and the USA, where opportunities for men and women are still not identical. Women do receive less pay in many professions such as doctors, lawyers, actresses, and many others. Biases do exist and there is still a prevalence of unjust behavior in these places as well, tending to make it even more difficult to uphold a system in countries which lack resources for implementation (Jenard & Judge, pg 113, 2005).

Employee Relations Approaches

There are two main approaches to employee relations, which include the individualistic approach and the collective approach. Employers choose their management style according to what they find most suitable and what is preferred.

The individualistic approach outlines the way employers prefer to keep separate management styles and negotiations open with individual employees and collective negotiating means dealing with the full work force at large (Blyton, pg 94-102, 2004).

Coordinating and managing employer and employee relationships become more difficult and complicated year by year. It is essential to manage the concerns of employees regarding issues such relocation of industry, harassment, redundancy, compensation, and violent behavior. Hence, it is important for each employee to have a progressive attitude towards the relationship between employee and employer. If this relationship becomes weak, the company suffers at large (Blyton, pg 230-234, 2004) this will hinder employee relations on a large scale.

As mentioned before, there are two ways of managing this relationship, which are a collective approach or an individual approach. The individual approach involves contact of an individual employee with the employer. The employer negotiates the terms and conditions of the contract with the individual employee, pertaining to that employee only (Lewis, pg 208-215,2003).

There are advantages with using the individualistic approach which include that there are only one person’s interests involved and hence, there is no conflict between parties. Sometimes, when the opinion of multiple employees is taken, various employees have differing views and differing interests. Hence, it is difficult to serve the interests of all employees and a trade-off must be made in order to serve the interests of the majority, which might leave some employees unhappy. An example to illustrate this is, one employee may feel that the wage rate is too low, while another may feel that more fringe benefits should be provided to employees. Another employee’s concern may be the health insurance plan and another employee may be worried about the new downsizing operation that the company has begun. It would be extremely difficult for the employer to serve all needs simultaneously; hence some employees will be left unattended in this regard. With individual bargaining, individual needs are catered to in the employment contract, hence there is no conflict.

Moreover, since the whims and needs of one person are included in individual bargaining, the employee relations does not have to compromise significantly as to the attendance of his/ her needs. The employee and employer can easily come upon a one-on-one settlement (.Edwards, pg 110, 2003) However, this approach also holds disadvantages which include that one person’s concerns may not be enough to restructure company policies or change procedures. One person may not have enough influence or coercive power to negotiate a great deal and hence the manager may not uphold the concerns of that individual employee. Hence, usually individual bargaining tends to have a much lesser impact upon company procedures and policies at large. There is a very low tendency of compliance by the employer hindering effective employee relations.

The second approach to employee relations is collective bargaining. This entails negotiating issues with representatives from trade unions and other employee representatives in order to solve the issues of employees collectively, on a large scale. This method aims to eliminate or reduce conflict as employees decide upon their demands on a collective scale and choose representatives to convey their demands to the employer. This enables all issues to be addressed quickly instead of individual employees coming to the employer with individual demands. Hence, it is a quicker and more effective process (Blyton, pg 12-36, 2004) and essential for good employee relations.

Through collective bargaining, the employees exert a lot of influence upon the employer and are able to get what they desire quickly and more effectively. As it is said that there is power in numbers, hence the more employees that are involved in the trade union, the better the result. The method of collective bargaining also has some down sides and some disadvantages. It causes the individual worker to be overshadowed by the interests of the whole group. An individual may have some private concerns which may not be the majority opinion. However, these concerns are not catered to when things are being dealt with on a collective scale. Hence, some employees may be left feeling deprived and unhappy (Edwards, pg 76-89, 2003) again, hindering effective employee relations.

There are other methods of employer and employee relations which depend upon the nature of work of the employee and whether the employee is a part-time or a full-time employee. Full time employees benefit the employer in many ways which include a sense of loyalty and belonging in the company which enables the employee to focus their best efforts upon the business. The employers also have a greater amount of control on the employee and his/her activities. The employer senses a feeling of security and trust which leaves him satisfied that there is other permanent staff available to assist him in hard times, this needs to be overcome in order to promote effective employee relations.

However, employers are also faced with a greater burden of full-time employees. They may be required to pay for vacations and must also pay payroll taxes. It is quite difficult to hire and maintain such a dedicated workforce, and employers will constantly need to provide benefits and other sources of motivation to their employees (Taylor, pg 245-246, 2008) this will promote healthy effective employee relations.

According to UK’s internal revenue code, part time employees are defined as those who work for a period less than 1,000 hours in a year. Part-time employees have some advantages for employers which include flexibility in working hours and a potentially economical option which is extremely viable for smaller and newly developed ventures. Moreover, part time employees can be availed when needed; hence full time costs can be saved to a large extent. Moreover, part time employees need not be given extra benefits such as paid vacations and health insurance. Just as full-time employees, part time employees also have their disadvantages. It is difficult to compete on the basis of loyalty and time with the other employers of part-time employees. When part time employees are offered other options and full time work, they may resign and this may result in a shortage in staff. These are the basic approaches that are used by employees and employers for employee relations. The approaches are used according to the suitability, custom, and preference of the employee and employer, this is essential to build good employee relations.

UK Employee Relations System

Although UK’s employment system is one the most highly protected and established system in the world, it is currently facing a lot of controversy and issues. Workers in the UK are most informed about their rights and have the highest amount of power now as opposed to the power they had in the post war period. However, they still find the system to be a complete turmoil. Employers are currently facing problems with high levels of employee regulations and low productivity and motivation in employees. The rate of motivation has decreased substantially over the years and even though 2005-2008 marked a period of Workers’ Rights Awareness and this rapidly increased the awareness workers have of their rights, workers were far less motivated than employers wanted. Workers tend to feel that there is an unlimited amount of unfairness in the system and it needs substantial improvement (Coats, pg 1, 2010)

The UK’s employment relation system is fairly simple and does not over emphasize certain issues. It gives employers fair liberty to hire and fire employees at their own will and it also prevents the formation of unions. Employees today find this quite unfair and are striving to find a collective voice and to be heard by the government and employers of the UK (Coats, pg 1, 2010).

Employees are not quite aware of the fact that unions are very much prevalent in the UK and they do have a right to a collective voice. However, that voice is subdued in the United Kingdom and employees are not made aware of the opportunities and rights that exist for them. Therefore, increasing employee relations is a must.

Union strikes and action is prohibited in the UK, which makes employees feel that they are at a loss for voicing their opinion. Miss Margaret Thatcher imposed this law upon the kingdom as a way to protect employers from unjust violence and threats from employees looking to impose unfair demands upon employers. However, this system has caused the employees to feel that they are at a loss and is causing more frequent and larger amounts of litigation made against employers. Hence, employee tribunals are active at full speed, dealing with a large number of lawsuits. It is found that employees who are not a part of a union tend to look towards employee tribunals for proper acknowledgement of their demands and to convey their whims, concerns, and other matters. This has currently put UK in an uproar and is affecting the economy at large (Coats, pg 1, 2010).

UK, in the post war period, was more or less the same as it is today. However, the predecessors of this government, in the post-war period understood that there was a need for a platform to voice the opinions of other parties and reasonably argue over alternatives. However, the current system of capitalism does not seem to be working well for the UK presently. This may call for a new system or model of capitalism to be designed and implemented (Rose, pg 220, 2004).

The government may be looking for full dialogue on the issue of improving the employee relations system and must make several reforms to the current prevailing system. These reforms may consist of adequate arrangements to deal with employee concerns on a collective scale and find alternate methods to dispute resolution. Implementation and more focused awareness of employee rights would be an advancing step, especially in areas where employees are least informed and most exploited. Companies who are listed on the Stock Exchange should be asked to also publish information regarding their personnel relations policies and other matters such as accident occurrence, labor turnover, and other human resource related issues.

Hence, opposed to the post war period, some regulations were imposed upon UK”s employee relations system which included the setting of anti-union laws. Some allowances were also made such as extra rights for working parents, minimum wage, and other worker friendly policies. However, these movements were disregarded as in the postwar period, little regulation controlled employee relations. It was left up to the employee and employer and the State only controlled major and serious issues regarding safety and other important concerns. Collective bargaining was majorly encouraged and trade unions were recognized as a means of reducing conflict (Coats, pg 1, 2010). Workers today feel deprived of the rights of collective bargaining and the post-war period system began crumbling with the on set on Miss Thatcher’s governance. The system is currently a wreck and needs new reforms or a new model to follow. It is alleged that other developed countries have developed and implemented their employee relations systems better than the UK and workers in the UK claim that the quality of jobs in the UK is below satisfactory and needs major improvement.

References

Blyton,P. & Turnbull,P.2004.The Dynamics of Employee Relations. Basingstoke,Palgrave

Coats, David. 2010. Time for a Re-think: A New Employment Relations System for the UK.

Cook, M. 2009. Personnel Selection. Chichester Wiley

Edwards, P. 2003. Industrial Relations and Employee Relations; Theory and Practice in Britain.Oxford Blackwell

Jenard, J. & Judge, G.2005.Employee Relations. London CIPD

Hollingshead, G.2010. International and Comparative Human Resource Management Employee Relations. London; McGraw Hill Higher Education.

Lewis,D. & Sergeant, M.2009. Essentials of Employment Law – Employee Relations. London, CIPD

Lewis,P et al. 2003.Employee Relations: Understanding the Employee Relationship. Prentice Hall

Rose,E. 2004. Employment Relations. Pearson Education

Taylor,S.2008. People Resourcing and Employee Relations. CIPD

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Theory of Motivation

Analysis of Motivation in Today’s Workforce and Recommendations for the First Bank of Kamloops

The blog post will discuss the theory of motivation as a concept, as a behavior and as a management tool and important concepts that are associated with motivation, given its prime role in life. Also, I have taken a case study related to a bank, and examined how the HRD has identified, and evolved a plan to increase motivational assets. This HRM Essay will discuss the theory of motivation.

Motivation

Motivation is a practice of extracting, controlling and sustaining certain behavior. There are many approaches to motivation – physiological, behavioral, cognitive, and social. Motivation is usually a group effect, but not limited to it; it affects the behavior of individuals on different levels, and as a result, the product in any workplace can directly be correlated to the motivational levels or on practical terms, the spirit of the work force. Motivation plays a vital role in setting and attaining goals, and the factor of motivation is intertwined with certain philosophical and psychological concepts – altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoiding mortality. Work place motivation can either intrinsic or extrinsic; intrinsic motivation refers to the drive or thirst due to the interest in the work, and this kind of motivation exists within the individual, not forced by any external pressure. Psychologists see intrinsic motivation as more effective than extrinsic because it helps in engaging on a task on one’s own will. Intrinsic Motivation is based on taking pleasure in an activity rather than working towards an external reward

Intrinsic motivation usually empowers in the following ways;

Autonomy – helps in grooming leaders
Effective agent in reaching desired goals in technical perspective
Creates specialist in professional world
Enriches the skill set

Extrinsic motivation is the opposite of intrinsic motivation, and the engagement in a task is inspired by an external reward. This sort of motivation is a function of two variables – activation based on motivation and target behavior. Extrinsic motivation is very common in any work place; usually the rewards are monetary benefits and promotions. Self-determination theory proposes that extrinsic motivation can be converted to internal motivation if the task assigned fits with the values and beliefs of the individual, and therefore helps to fulfill their basic psychological needs.

Incentive Theory

Employees in a company are usually motivated to do things due to external rewards such us monetary benefits and promotions. Also, people are motivated to go to work each day for the monetary reward of being paid. Association and reinforcement play a major role in this theory of motivation.

Drive Theory

According to this theory, certain actions are taken to reduce the internal tension that is caused by unmet needs. For example, you might be motivated to work on night shifts in order gain more bonuses. This theory is usually associated to strong biological components. The problem with the drive theory of motivation is that these behaviors are not always motivated purely by physiological needs.

Arousal Theory of Motivation

Arousal theory depends on certain actions taken either to decrease or increase levels of arousal. As per this theory, we are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal, although this level can vary based on the individual or the situation. Thus, employee often maintains the work life in a balanced manner, rather than operating in volatile moods.

Humanistic Theory

Humanistic theory is based on the idea that there is strong cognitive reason for every action performed by a human. This theory was strongly proposed by Abraham Maslow; people are initially motivated to seek basic needs such as food, home and health, as well as emotional values such as love and respect. Once, the basic needs are met, people get motivated to perform fullest to their potential.

Cognitive (Attribution) Theory

The cognitive approach is attribution theory by Heider and Weiner. It proposes that every individual tries to explain the factors of success and failure by offering some explanations and attributions. These attributions are either internal or external and are either under control or not under control. The following chart shows the four different attributions, which result from a combination of internal or external locus of control and whether or not control is possible.

	Internal	External
No Control	Ability	Luck
Control	Effort	Task Difficulty

The second cognitive approach is expectancy theory. (Vroom, 1964) According to this theory, Motivation = Perceived Probability of Success (Expectancy) * Connection of Success and Reward (Instrumentality) * Value of Obtaining Goal (Valance, Value) All the values should be existent for motivation to exist. From the perspective of this theory, all three variables must be high in order for motivation and the resulting behavior to be high.

Psychoanalytic Theories

In this theory, we are focused on variety of fundamental influences. Freud (1990) said that all actions of humans come as an effect of internal, biological instincts that are classified into two categories: life and death. Many disagreed on Freud’s approach, his student like Erikson (1993) and Sullivan (1968) proposed that interpersonal and social relationships are fundamental, Adler (1989) proposed power, while Jung (1953, 1997) proposed temperament and search for soul or personal meaningfulness.

Adam’s Equity Theory

According to John Stacey Adams, behavioral psychologist presented his equity theory on job motivation in 1963. Until then, work place psychology was limited to variable factors such as individual’s assessment and perception of their relationship with their work, and thereby their employer. The Adams’ Equity Theory for the first time extended beyond the individual analysis, and incorporated the influence and comparison of other people’s situations.

Adams represented personal efforts, give, take and rewards as only two variable namely, ‘inputs’ and ‘outputs’. Inputs are what we give to work, and outputs are what work gives us. It includes all the factors such as working hours, and that what people receive from their work includes many things aside from money. Also, the pivotal part is Adam used several references and reference point with whom we compare our situation.

In practice, equity model proposed by Adam helps us resolve why people are strongly affected by situations. People are continuously expecting sense of fairness or equity in their work situations. When we feel the inputs go well with the reward that we reap as outputs, then we are happy about it and continuously inputting at the same level for benefits. Also, we stay happier and contented in the work place. On the contrary, if the input is not benefited by output than the ratio enjoyed by referent others, then we become demotivated in relation to our job and employer. Thus we have adequately discussed all the approaches pertaining to motivation in the psychological perspective.

Purpose of the Report

The purposes of this report is identify the problems of the employees, identify the consequences a company endured with unmotivated employees, identifying techniques, the organizations can use to motivate their employees, and lastly, show the positive consequences a company enjoys with motivated employees. Nine professional and scholarly journals were used for the report, while preparing this report. As part of the study, the bank deployed several sources, and identified the problems associated with de-motivated employees. Before going on to them, lets study the practical factors associated with motivation.

Nelson (1996) said it is not wise to rely on money to motivate the employees because money can act the otherwise too. This is the basic reason why people are not motivated in the work force. Employers are still not aware that money alone is not enough to motivate workers in today’s work environment (pp. 65-66).

Often, employees are not aware of what is happening in a company. According to scholars, it is one of the cheapest ways to motivate an employee, and show them how they form the core part of the profit company earns. Employee feels like a business partner, he or she will feel a sense of belonging to that particular company. Usually, managers withhold key information from reaching their employees to maintain power in their company. This will seriously undermine employee morale, and ultimately motivation suffers.

Also, Nelson reported those employees are not motivated when they are not acknowledged for their performance. When employees are not given full or even limited recognition and praise, they will not put in the extra effort to do their jobs well. Praise and recognition can increase workers’ performance and self-esteem significantly.

Nelson (1996) also reported that employees will not be motivated to do their jobs if managers or supervisors do not acknowledge workers’ performance. When employees are not given full or even limited recognition and praise, employees are not ready to increase their effort. As a result, there is a chance Workers’ performance and self-esteem to go down significantly.

Other factors that cause employees de-motivation are environment where employees are bored or mismanaged furthermore, when employees are not given a chance to learn new skills or grow within the organization, low morale will be the likely result.

Consequences – de-motivation

Martinez (1997) reported that de-motivated workforce can create negativity throughout the workplace in very short span of time; this can even be considered like an epidemic that spreads diseases.

Beavers (1996) seriously warn that one de-motivator can offend the whole spirit of the organization; the de-motivated persons can be held on displays of violent or aggressive behavior on the job. Also, the important consequence of possessing unmotivated employees directly reflects in the production scale. When production drops, it’s natural that profit goes down within.

Nelson (1996) pointed out that when firms are not willing to motivate their employees, turnover rates increase. Thus, no companies like to see a rention drop of employees. The process of human resource development is expensive. Moreover, new employees are not immediately productive, which again drains a company’s resources.

Ten techniques to motivate

Thank employee when they perform well, and make it timely. When thanks offered in writing, employee morale is boosted.
Take the time to talk with employees. The best means of communication is face-to-face conversation.
Give specific feedback about work performance directly to employees.
Create an environment where employees can work creatively, and share their thoughts on the process.
Show employees how the organization loses and makes money.
Taking employee into decision-making processes, especially when a decision will affect that particular employee.
Allow employees to feel a sense of ownership or secure in their jobs and in the work that they do.
Make rewards, promotions, and recognition based solely on employee performance.
Encourage employees to grow and learn new skills to be used in the company.
Celebrate an employee’s performance when he or she is successful. Let employees know that their hard work is valued and appreciated.

Issues with Bank’s motivational factor

After the interviews with banks’ Lonny Cooper, Jon Wenzel, and Reza Rich, the following conclusions were drawn,

Money does not motivate employees in today’s workforce.
Employees become unmotivated when there is a communication gap between management and subordinates and when performance is not recognized or praised.
Unmotivated employees cause negativity throughout the workplace. Carelessness, absenteeism, resource waste, and turnover rates increase when employees become unmotivated.
Employees are motivated in different ways as each individual possesses different values.
Specialized system on effective communication, incentive programs, and praise in the workplace has proven to be successful strategies or techniques a company can use to motivate its employees.
When a company has motivated employees, production and sales rates increase, customer relations improve, the work environment becomes safer, morale increases, and turnover rates decrease.

Recommendations

Reward bank tellers for effectively balancing the cash drawers for one month, and continue to reward tellers for every perfect month thereafter.
Have meetings once a month with each branch to recognize, praise, and congratulate employees for successful performance. Specific names and achievements should be discussed during these meetings.
Encourage main office executives to visit the five branches on a weekly basis to ensure that the main office has not forgotten about them.
Give employees a choice as to whether they want extra pay or time off when extra hours are put in each week.
Let each employee know who he or she can talk to when there is a problem or when help is needed.
Designate someone to ask employees how they wish to be rewarded so that when rewards are given, employees value and appreciate the rewards.
Allow current employees of First Bank of Kamloops first choice when an opening occurs rather than posting the job opening in the newspaper.
Send memos to every employee showing how each branch is making profits. Specifically, list how much profit each branch makes on a monthly basis. In the memos also recognize successful performance and outstanding employees. Let employees know what areas need improvements and how they can help management meet its goals.

Conclusion

To sum up, I have borrowed Thomas Jefferson words – “do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you”. It is important for companies to motivate not just to grow, but to have a happier world. Every man needs to be motivated, and groomed as efficient as possible. This will certainly remove all the ills of modern management, and make the organizations grow more as a unit, or like that of a sports team.

References

Braverman, R. (n.d.). Motivating employees at First Bank of Kamloops

Cherry, K. (2012). Theories of Motivation

Leonard, N., Beauvais, L., & Scholl, R. (1999). Work motivation: The incorporation of self-concept-based processes. Human Relations, 52(8), 969-997

Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396.

Mathes, E. (1981, Fall). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a guide for living. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 21, 69-72.

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Workforce Diversity

Managing Workforce Diversity – An Examination of McDonald’s Workplace Diversity Strategy

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This dissertation is focused on evaluating how workforce diversity within the workplace can be effectively managed in order to achieve desired level of performance. Managing diversity can be defined as formulating and implementing the systems that can be helpful in managing the people in a way that potential advantages of diversity are maximized and potential disadvantages are minimized. Workplaces nowadays are becoming increasingly diverse with employees from different cultures, genders, races and ethnic backgrounds are working together in order to achieve the common goals and objectives. This increases the importance of formulating and implementing effective strategies in order to manage workforce diversity at the workplace. Existing research highlights the importance of managing diverse workforce has been significantly increased because due to the increasing trend of globalization, the organizations are establishing their business operations in different countries of the world which requires them to recruit the employees who belong to different cultures and backgrounds, encouraging diversity is helpful for the businesses to grow and achieve the strategic competitive advantage. Academics believes a diversified workforce is helpful in strengthening the organization which results in increased growth and improved business profitability. It is a fact that when recruiting employees from different backgrounds it provides an opportunity to the firm to understand the perspective of different types of customers. The workforce quality can also be improved with the help of an effective diversity policy because it enables the organization to reach a larger pool of candidates who have desired skills and capabilities which are essential to fulfill the business needs.

Research Objectives

To identify the role of managing workforce diversity in achieving high level of business performance
To discuss the role of effective human resource management practices in managing diversity at the workplace
To evaluate that how the diversity related issues can affect the motivation and satisfaction level of the employees at the workplace
To identify that how the management of workforce diversity can be helpful in improving the coordination among the employees at the workplace?

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I do hope you enjoyed reading this post on managing employee diversity in the workplace. There are many other titles available in the HRM dissertation collection that should be of interest to human resource management students and CIPD professionals. There are many dissertation titles that relate to other aspects of HRM such as employee engagement, HRM Theory, absenteeism, training and development to name a few. It took a lot of effort to write this post and I would be grateful if you could share this post via Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you.