Benefits and Advantages of Purchasing Human Resource Management Dissertations

In today’s competitive job market, it is important for HR professionals and students to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and practices in human resource management. One way to achieve this is by purchasing human resource management dissertations. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits and advantages of doing so.

First and foremost, purchasing human resource management dissertations can provide valuable insights into the latest research and best practices in the field. Dissertations often involve extensive research and analysis, making them a valuable source of information for HR professionals and students. They can offer new perspectives on old problems, and provide insights into emerging trends and practices.

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For example, a dissertation on employee engagement might explore the latest research on how to motivate employees, increase job satisfaction, and foster a positive work environment. Reading this dissertation could provide HR professionals and students with new strategies and ideas for improving employee engagement within their own organizations.

A dissertation on diversity and inclusion might explore the latest research on how to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace, and the benefits of doing so. Reading this dissertation could help HR professionals and students gain a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with diversity and inclusion, and develop strategies for promoting these values within their own organizations.

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Purchasing human resource management dissertations can be a valuable investment in the career development of HR professionals and students. By reading dissertations and gaining new insights into the field, they can develop new skills and knowledge that will help them advance in their careers. They can also use the knowledge and insights gained from dissertations to develop new strategies and practices that can help their organizations succeed.

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Develop Your Writing and Research Skills

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In conclusion, purchasing human resource management dissertations can provide a range of benefits and advantages for HR professionals and students. They can offer valuable insights into the latest research and best practices in the field, provide inspiration for new research projects, save time and effort for students struggling to come up with a topic or research question, provide guidance and mentorship for students struggling to complete their own dissertation, provide access to valuable data and information, help professionals and students stay up-to-date with the latest developments and trends in the field, and be a valuable investment in the career development of HR professionals and students.

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Cultural Diversity Dissertation

Cultural Diversity

In recent years, cultural diversity has become a topic of interest for both researchers and policymakers. As a result, many studies have been conducted to measure and analyze cultural diversity and its impact across different sectors (Nijkamp & Poot, 2015). Cultural diversity brings together two different terms – culture and diversity – which, when combined, create a concept that has been a topic of discussion in many offices and classrooms for years (Nijkamp & Poot, 2015). The things and practices one is taught as they grow up shapes who they become in adulthood. Generally, culture is a broad term that comprises the beliefs, norms, values, and behaviors installed into us (UOP, n.d). It is defined as a ‘way of being’ or ‘way of life’ (UOP, n.d).

On the other hand, the term diversity has been used to infer different concepts depending on the context. Usually, it refers to any approach that recognizes differences, such as the difference in intercultural, feminist, and integrative education, with the primary sources of difference being gender, disability, and immigration (Dietz, 2007). Notably, this view of difference implies that there are clear-cut distinguishing traits, factors, or makers.

Consequently, Dietz (2007) notes that this ideology is being gradually replaced by the notion that diversity refers to overlapping the traits that bring about human variability. Using this approach, cultural diversity is seen as social and cultural variability, thus including multiple groups represented within any environment, e.g., at school or the workplace (Dietz, 2007). This has broadened definitions given by some scholars, such as Martin (2014), who recognized cultural diversity as the differences in race, religion, nationality, language, and ethnicity between individuals from different communities. That said, this research paper focuses on cultural diversity and its role as a topic in our current society.

Throughout the entire course, we have covered a different topic, including but not limited to communication, leadership, cultural diversity, global presence, and societal and personal mindsets. Indeed, all these topics were interesting and broadened my perspective on life and the global marketplace. However, I choose to write about cultural diversity for multiple reasons.

First, writing a research paper on cultural diversity gives me a chance to understand how cultural diversity looks like in our present society. Second, according to literature, as I grow up and go out into the world, I will come across different backgrounds and ethnicities. As a result, I decided to research cultural diversity to be easier for me to recognize when I come across it. I discovered that cultural diversity involves accepting that there is an extensive range of cultures out there. In a school setting, cultural diversity exhibits accepting applications from students from different parts of the world while simultaneously incorporating their religious and cultural practices into the school system (UOP, n.d).

Additionally, I decided to write on this topic because it expands my perspective on life. Reading about others’ experiences sheds light on a different life rather than the one I am used to, giving me multiple perspectives. This way, every time I listen to someone’s experience, it becomes easier to empathize and understand their point of view. According to O’Boyle (2020), learning about new cultures may change one’s values or mindset, which may be scary to challenge at a subconscious level. Most importantly, learning about other cultures may give one a flexible way of thinking. One gets to view life from different lenses and enjoy the unending sequence of possibilities that the diversity of perspective has to offer (O’Boyle, 2020).

Additionally, I choose to research cultural diversity because it is one of the current topics of interest in the country. Nijkamp & Poot (2015) noted that immigration and cultural diversity are interrelated. For decades, individuals from third-world countries have been seeking opportunities in developed nations, causing the populations of the host countries to become culturally diverse (Nijkamp & Poot, 2015

. While some immigrants tend to adopt the dominant culture in their host countries, others tend to retain their culture and pass it to subsequent generations (Nijkamp & Poot, 2015). Besides, natives also tend to adopt aspects of the foreign culture, with others feeling attached to multiple cultures (Nijkamp & Poot, 2015). Most importantly, people must appreciate that cultures are not static; instead, they evolve and adjust in migrants’ home and destination countries (Nijkamp & Poot, 2015).

Existing data shows that more people are moving out of their home countries (Dietz, 2007).  Multiple reasons can be blamed for this, including increasing globalization (Dietz, 2007) and poor conditions in their countries of residence. According to data by the United Nations, by mid-2019, approximately 217 million people had left their countries, becoming one of the factors that are making modern societies culturally diverse (Brinks, Data & Data, 2019).

This number was a tremendous increase from the 152 million international immigrants who had been reported in the mid-1990s (Brinks, Data & Data, 2019). In addition, since President Biden’s inauguration, the US has recorded one of the highest numbers of immigrants being stopped at the border (Parker et al., 2021). An article by Washington Post earlier in the year noted that as many as two million immigrants had been stopped at the Southern border, making it the biggest immigrant surge in two decades (Parker et al., 2021). This is likely to intensify the language barrier problem already being experienced in the US, as in most Western countries (Cultural Infusion, n.d.).

My hope is that cultural diversity as a topic will have several outcomes. First, I hope that the students will gain an accurate representation and knowledge of different cultural groups. One of the problems facing underrepresented and marginalized communities is that their culture tends to be misinterpreted, even in textbooks. Hence, during lessons on cultural diversity, the knowledge taught should be neutral, with the students being encouraged to share the correct information on their traditions and beliefs.

Unfortunately, some students may not be familiar with their culture as they were brought up in areas that do not share their culture. Luckily, school becomes an important place for such students to learn more about their culture. Most importantly, other students, who are usually the majority, learn about other cultures, making it easier for them to accept and include them in their activities (Cultural Infusion, n.d.).

Furthermore, I hope that this topic on cultural diversity will enhance intercultural interaction and harmony within the school setting. Research shows that there is a high correlation between exposure to different cultures and attitudes towards the minority (Hjerm, Johansson Sevä & Werner, 2018). Simply put, someone who has a higher exposure to different cultures is more likely to have an anti-immigrant attitude (Hjerm, Johansson Sevä & Werner, 2018).

Cultural Diversity Dissertation
Cultural Diversity Dissertation

Besides, Hanson, Bangert & Ruff (2016) concluded that one way of achieving culturally responsive teaching is through teaching about diversity. This suggests that learning about cultural diversity enhances interactions between students from different cultural backgrounds (Hjerm, Johansson Sevä & Werner, 2018). Usually, students tend to distance themselves from persons they do not understand their culture as they do not know what is tolerable and what is not (Cultural Infusion, n.d.).

In such situations, there is a strong likelihood of students to form an ‘us and them’ mentality as the underrepresented groups tend to separate themselves (Cultural Infusion, n.d.). Hopefully, this topic will help clear the air on some of the biases and stereotypes associated with some students, making it easier for students to interact. Consequently, this is likely to reduce bullying cases towards underrepresented communities (Cultural Infusion, n.d.).

Another anticipated outcome of this topic is to help underrepresented communities to feel included. Banks (2013) concluded that particular cultural groups remain underrepresented in the secondary and tertiary curriculum. He noted that the experiences of women and minority communities were barely recorded in the curriculum. Consequently, the underrepresented communities fail to relate to what is being taught in school, making them feel unwelcome and insignificant (Cultural Infusion, n.d.).

Learning material that is so foreign to their culture adds to their challenge of adopting foreign land and way of life (Cultural Infusion, n.d.). However, learning about cultural diversity is likely to spark the interest of these students, motivating them to learn and do better in their studies (Gay, 2013). Multiple studies have associated a multicultural curriculum with excellent academic results amongst the minority groups (Gay, 2013).

In addition, I hope that this topic will prepare the students for their future in a culturally diverse work environment. As noted by Martin (2014), increasing globalization has resulted in culturally diverse work environments. Besides, businesses are gradually recognizing the need to have a culturally diverse workforce in staying ahead of competitors (Martin, 2014). Indeed, having a culturally diverse workforce translates to perspectives and opinions from different angles, resulting in well-informed decisions that enhance company productivity and performance (Martin, 2014).

Indeed, research shows that a diverse workforce makes better decisions than a non-diverse one 87 percent of the time (Hedayat, 2020). Plus, a diverse workforce tends to be more creative and innovative, resulting in higher financial returns than non-diverse competitors (Hedayat, 2020). With this in mind, almost all work environments today are culturally diverse. Hence this topic should prepare the students for their future in the corporate world.

This topic has impacted me in several ways. First, I believe I have become a global citizen. By researching and learning about different cultures, I have learned the dos and don’ts when interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds in a global society. At the same time, I have gained a broader, more informed, and balanced life perspective, thus enhancing my social skills and deepening my understanding of the world. Finally, with these skills and knowledge at the tip of my hands, I believe I am well-prepared to be part of a global society, whether I am traveling to a strange land or working with persons from different cultural backgrounds (O’Boyle, 2020).

Cultural Diversity Recognition

Besides, it has become easier for me to recognize diversity. Even better, I appreciate that we are all different but unique in our very being. This made me respect other people’s uniqueness and anything that comes with it, including cultural practices, reactions, beliefs, and values (UOP, n.d.). Undoubtedly, learning and researching cultural diversity has made me less discriminatory against persons who are not like me. That is because, with continued exposure to people who are not like me, I have come to accept that the differences between us do not have to create barriers. As a result, I can admit I now relate with minority students better than I did in the past (O’Boyle, 2020).

Indeed, this topic has given me a richer life experience than I could have ever imagined. Diversity is a natural state of existence and makes us who we are (O’Boyle, 2020). Imagine a world where we all shared similar values, practices, and traditions. It would be boring to interact with people with whom you share a similar background, but it would be easier for humans to become extinct (O’Boyle, 2020). When people from a similar background come together, they are more likely to feel safe (O’Boyle, 2020). However, their thought process is more likely to be unidirectional and petty-minded (O’Boyle, 2020). Learning about how other people live, eat, and celebrate has expanded my worldview while simultaneously inspiring new ideas in me (O’Boyle, 2020).

Moreover, this topic has made me more compassionate towards those different from me, whether at school, work, or home. The more I learn about other cultures and their troubles (mainly discrimination), the more I understand them. Plus, I understood that we might be different, but we have one thing in common: our shortcomings. Therefore, it could be unfair to hold a mistake against someone, and worse, still associate it with their background.

Today, unlike in the past, I no longer impose my beliefs on people. Instead, I have learned to accept their traditions and practices without passing judgment. Besides, I have become more outspoken in matters concerning discrimination. In the past, I would brush off culturally insensitive comments as jokes. However, today I call out such persons and discourage them from undermining the minority cultures at work and school. Consequently, this has made it easier for me to interact with people from outside my culture. As a result, I have made multiple friends from other cultural backgrounds (UOP, n.d.). Some of them even invite me to their festivities. Surprisingly, we have more things in common with some of them than with people I have identified with all my life (Cultural Infusion, n.d.).

Cultural diversity is of interest to me because it helps create a critical thinking mindset on the same issues. Through learning and researching cultural diversity, I have realized that there is more to what we learn from the books. Our knowledge and experience with cultural diversity should not be limited to the classroom. Instead, as students, we should learn to apply the knowledge learned in class to the critical issues in our reality, such as homophobia and racism (Gollnick et al., 2009). It should help students critically assess day-to-day issues related to cultural diversity, such as the Black Lives Matter Movement, triggered by the death of George Floyd. With the knowledge learned on cultural diversity, it becomes easier to analyze such issues and understand why they exist hundreds of years after abolishing slavery (Cultural Infusion, n.d.).

Besides acquiring critical thinking skills, others should be interested in this topic because cultural diversity affects us. Usually, individuals use their culture as the standard to judge and discriminate against others for being different (Belfield, 2012). Culture is the lens through which we evaluate all that happens around us, terming it normal or weird, proper or improper (Cultural Infusion, n.d.). Indeed, if anyone is placed in a culture different from what they are used to, they are likely to be disoriented and confused (Cultural Infusion, n.d.).

Hence it is safe to conclude that we tend to judge others based on the fear of what we do not understand (Belfield, 2012). Notably, to understand and accommodate each other, Dr. Belfield suggests that we must first have a particular level of understanding of one another. This way, the biases and stereotypes we have of each will be dissipated, enabling us to co-exist more peacefully and harmoniously (Belfield, 2012). Since cultural diversity is in every aspect of our lives, from schools to workplaces (Belfield, 2012), it will make the world a better place to live in.

Most importantly, others should also be interested in this topic as it gives everyone a platform to learn how to support cultural diversity (Belfield, 2012). Learning about cultural diversity helps us identify and appreciate cultures that are not similar to ours (Cultural Infusion, n.d.). This way, it becomes easier to interact with individuals outside of our cultures (Cultural Infusion, n.d.).

What’s more, people learn ways to enhance inclusion in all aspects of their lives (Cultural Infusion, n.d.). Some of the ways that support cultural diversity include coming up with policies that favor all cultures involved and respecting their religious and cultural festivities (Belfield, 2012). According to Belfield (2012), cultural diversity gives us the impression that every living being can make a unique contribution to society despite their ‘differences.’ Therefore, in a world where cultural diversity is appreciated and honored, people would be empowered to be the best versions of themselves, making the world a better place to live because of the differences (Belfield, 2012).

Thanks to increasing globalization, cultural diversity has become a common phenomenon in almost all workplaces. What’s more, companies have become increasingly aware that organizations with higher levels of cultural diversity perform better than the rest by approximately 35 percent (Jackson, 2017). With this realization, top managers seek appropriate ways to effectively implement and adopt a culturally diverse staff and workplace (Vo, 2014).

Unfortunately, most leaders limit this role to a single program or initiative (Jackson, 2017). What such leaders do not understand is the crucial role played by the human resource department in managing cultural diversity at the workplace (Jackson, 2017). Most importantly, today, cultural diversity at the workplace demands a little more than ticking boxes and creating target ads (Vo, 2014). Instead, it requires the total commitment of an entire department to motivate the rest of the company into appreciating cultural diversity (Jackson, 2017).

That said, the human resource department takes up different roles on the cultural diversity issue at the workplace. First, the human resource department is in charge of cultural diversity training and development at the workplace (Vo, 2014). The goals of such training should be to increase staff awareness regarding cultural diversity (Vo, 2014). This way, employees learn how to handle the differences between them, making it easier to collaborate in work projects and learn from one another (Vo, 2014). Besides, the training should be purposed at equipping employees with as much knowledge and skills as possible on cultural diversity (Vo, 2014). The training modules should cover leadership and leaders’ capability to handle cultural diversity amongst the stakeholders (Vo, 2014).

Indeed, the training provides a platform for discussion on issues regarding cultural diversity. According to Vo (2014), creating a platform where employees can discuss their differences enhances trust and effective decision-making while opening doors to compromise. Vo (2014) notes that the company leaders, managers, and supervisors should be the primary target of the training.

Cultural Diversity in Modern Organizations

However, training sessions purposed to create cultural diversity awareness should involve all employees, enabling them to associate with each other and customers better (Vo, 2014). A highly experienced trainer should be hired for the job. The human resource department should most importantly ensure regular monitoring and evaluation to ensure the program is well-received (Vo, 2014). Plus, the feedback given will help in future planning and improvement (Vo, 2014).

In addition, any organization that hopes to accommodate a culturally diverse workforce should plan to accommodate diverse employees from the very start (Vo, 2014). Such a company should empower its human resource department to prepare on how to recruit employees from different backgrounds (Vo, 2014). Consequently, this translates to changing the organization’s recruiting strategies to ensure the recruited individuals are from a diverse pool (Vo, 2014).

Thus, the organization should consider its hiring lead time, where and how the job advertisement has been made, and its reputation for hiring persons from diverse backgrounds (Vo, 2014). One of the strategies that have worked for most companies is having a list of universities that historically have a large pool of underrepresented communities (Vo, 2014). However, having a list is not enough, as is recruiting the top talent in such institutions (Vo, 2014).

Once the strategies on bringing a diverse group of candidates have been developed and implemented, the next step is to evaluate the interviewers’ attitude towards the job seekers (Vo, 2014). Contrary to common belief, the recruitment process is usually not the entire objective (Vo, 2014). Unbeknown to many interviewers, assumptions, biases, and stereotypes may interfere with their decisions during the interviewing process (Vo, 2014). For instance, it is common to assume that the candidate should keep direct eye contact during an interview.

Anyone who fails to do so is disrespectful. Notably, while most Americans believe in this theory, some Asian cultures like my culture consider it disrespectful to look someone directly in the eye. In such a scenario, the interviewer is likely to dismiss a potential candidate and fail to listen to him/her on the belief that such a candidate is disrespectful. However, an interviewer who appreciates cultural diversity will understand this concept and instead focus on other body languages during the interview (Vo, 2014). Back in Thailand, I could not look at my teacher’s eyes while talking. It was disrespectful.

Most importantly, the recruitment team should be made aware of the questions to avoid during the interview. For example, questions on one’s race, religion, citizenship, place of birth, and marital statuses are discriminatory as they do not reflect a person’s ability to handle the task at hand (Cultural Infusion, n.d.). In addition, questions such as the number of children one has and how much they weigh reflect bias and leave the organization vulnerable to a lawsuit. However, with a human resource department that is serious about enhancing cultural diversity, such awkward situations would be avoided (Vo, 2014).

Conclusion

My topic of choice for this research is cultural diversity. This term has received different definitions depending on the issue at hand. However, according to Martin (2014), cultural diversity brings together the differences in humans, including race, ethnicity, religion, and background. Therefore, I choose this topic because it expands my view on life and global issues including working environment. Besides, with the increasing rise of immigrants in our country, cultural diversity is a significant concern across all sectors.

Additionally, I hope that this topic will help the underrepresented students to feel included while simultaneously preparing students for their future in a diverse workplace. Indeed, diversity has become a must for businesses that wish to remain competitive. Jackson (2017) notes that the human resource department plays a crucial role in implementing and adopting cultural diversity at the workplace. Cultural diversity at any organizations has changed the ways of HR policies and practices forever.

References

Banks, J. A. (2013). The construction and historical development of multicultural education, 1962–2012. Theory into practice, 52(sup1), 73-82.

Belfield, D., L. (2012, December 18). What is Cultural Diversity. Purdue University Global Inc.

Brinks, J., Data, E. U., & Data, E. U. M. S. Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2019 Revision.

Cultural Infusion. (n.d.). Six reasons why multicultural education is essential in our diverse world.

Dietz, G. (2007). Keyword: Cultural diversity. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 10(1), 7-30.

Gay, G. (2013). The importance of multicultural education. In Curriculum Studies Reader E2 (pp. 312-318). Routledge.

Gollnick, D. M., Chinn, P. C., Kroeger, S. D., & Bauer, A. M. (2009). Multicultural education in a pluralistic society (Vol. 90). Columbus, OH: Merrill.

Hanson, J., Bangert, A., & Ruff, W. (2016). Exploring the Relationship between School Growth Mindset and Organizational Learning Variables: Implications for Multicultural Education. Journal of Educational Issues, 2(2), 222-243.

Hedayat, M. (2020, June 24). Diversity In The Workplace Is Now More Critical Than Ever. Forbes.

Hjerm, M., Johansson Sevä, I., & Werner, L. (2018). How critical thinking, multicultural education and teacher qualification affect anti-immigrant attitudes. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 27(1), 42-59.

Jackson, H., G. (2017, September 27). Why HR Must Lead Diversity Efforts. SHRM.

Martin, G. C. (2014). The effects of cultural diversity in the workplace. Journal of diversity management (JDM), 9(2), 89-92.

Nijkamp, P., & Poot, J. (2015). Cultural diversity: a matter of measurement. In The economics of cultural diversity. Edward Elgar Publishing.

O’Boyle, T. (2020, June 20). 5 Reasons Why Diversity is Important in the 21st Century. AMP Global Youth.

Parker, A., Miroff, N., Sullivan, S., & Pager, T. (2021, March 20). ‘No end in sight’: Inside the Biden administration’s failure to contain the border surge. The Washington Post.

University of the People. (n.d.). What is Cultural Diversity and Why Is It Important.

Vo, K. H. (2014). Managing cultural diversity in human resource management.

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Recruitment and Selection Dissertations

The Importance of Recruiting

At the heart of every Human Resource Management (HRM) practice is a deep-seated concern regarding how human capital can be managed to derive the best results for any organization. One of the most critical functions and processes in HR is recruitment and selection. The importance of Human Capital and the impact it portends for companies and business organizations cannot be understated – it is the most crucial asset in every organization. As such, it follows that the mechanisms and procedures employed by organizations in recruiting talent among its ranks are an accurate presentation of how an organization intends to implement its mission and achieve its vision.

This paper examines the importance of this process in recruitment and selection, especially in the modern work environment. It does this by evaluating the standard frameworks of recruitment and selection before it explores the common trends as practiced in the modern era. It then examines the challenges faced by HR professionals within this context and concludes by highlighting some recommendations to address these challenges.

Recruitment and Selection – Getting it Right

The importance of the recruitment process in any organization is evident – recruiters ensure that an organization succeeds in achieving its goals and objectives by availing the best candidates whose competence and skills make them the best suited for the job. In this sense, recruiters are the filters that select the most appropriate candidates for organizational success. In the modern business environment—one that is continually evolving—the need to hire individuals who are knowledgeable, loyal, adaptable, dependable and skilled has become even stronger. As such, the recruitment and selection process is one of the core responsibilities of Human Resources (HR) in most organizations. This is because it is widely regarded as a process that fundamentally affects the potential for revenue growth and hence the profit margins of any profit-driven organization in comparison to other tasks like leadership development, onboarding, retention and talent management (Bhatia, 2013).

The theoretical framework under which this topic will be discussed in this paper is based on two theories – the human capital theory and Resource-Based View theory (RBV). The human capital theory contends that humans are the most important asset of any organization and that their market skills are a form of capital which essentially makes humans a type of investment (Buta, 2015). This point of view is critical especially in developing an understanding of the incentives as well as the structure of earnings and wages. The Resource-Based View theory is premised on the notion that an organization can develop a competitive advantage by creating a human resource capital which is unique to its organizational demands and which cannot be imitated by other organizations (Rothaermel, 2012). The representation is a graphic representation of the Resource-Based View theory framework.

Recruitment and Selection Dissertation
(Source: Rothermel, 2015)

In this paper, the task is to position the recruitment and selection process as a pivotal component of organizational success.

The Recruitment and Selection Process

Human talent is without a doubt, one of the most sought-after commodities in the 21st century workplace. Therefore, the process of searching, isolating and recruiting these talents is at the heart and soul of all organizations. Within the professional realm of Human Resources, recruitment is defined as the ‘process of searching out and attracting qualified job applicants’ (The Strategic Importance of Recruitment, 2012). Naturally, this begins with identifying the position that needs to be filled and ends when an adequate number of candidates have submitted their application forms or resumes. The strategic plan of the organization dictates the identification of job openings. In some instances, these needs can arise unexpectedly due to factors such as terminations, natural attrition, or resignations.

Once the need for hiring has been identified, the next step is to select an appropriate method that will facilitate an effective recruitment process. Some organizations prefer to recruit from within while others prefer to widen their selection pools by going outside the organization’s talent pool. Each of these methods has their advantages and disadvantages. For example, when an organization hires from within, it enhances the morale, commitment, and performance of its employees. However, when a company’s existing pool of talent does not meet the required standards, it is common for such companies to search outside. Studies show that most entry-level jobs are mostly filled by candidates sourced externally (The Strategic Importance of Recruitment, 2012). Because of the advances in technology that inform HR processes, online recruitment is increasingly becoming a popular strategy for getting external talents. Job fairs and co-operative education programs are equally powerful recruitment methods.

Once the recruitment process had ended, the next step selection involves choosing the most suitable candidate from the pool of recruiting. Methods of selection usually vary from one organization to the other depending on their demands and culture. Regardless, this process is usually complex and involves a lot of decision making.  The structure of the selection process typically depends on a lot of things such as the urgency, number of potential candidates, and so on. Irrespective of the structure of the selection process, the main objectives of selection tests are: (a) prediction, (b) diagnosis, and; (c) situational behavioral assessments. (Opayemi & Oyesola, 2013).

The Selection Process

The overall selection process can be made up of several stages. This is exemplified in the diagram shown below. It is, however, instructive to understand that the steps in a selection process vary depending on many factors that will be discussed herein.

Selection Process Dissertation
(Source: Alsabbah & Ibrahim, 2011)

According to Alsabbah and Ibrahim (2013), Kamran, Dawood, and Hilal (2015), the structure of the selection process differs from one organization to the other and mostly depends on a company’s needs. In most cases, however, the selection process comprises several stages which are:

Evaluation – the evaluation stage entails applicants submitting their applications usually in application forms. The information contained in these forms include the name of the candidate, age, education, experience, expected salary, hobbies, and references, etc. the applicants who apply are the called shortlisted candidates.

Preliminary interview – in this stage, the shortlisted candidates are invited for the interview.  Their personal interests, career goals, objectives for applying, and general attitudes are evaluated. Those who meet the basic standards proceed to the next stage.

Selection tests – in this stage, the candidates are subjected to written examinations. Different types of selection tests can be used depending on the nature of the job, responsibilities, and the number of applicants. Some of the typical selection tests are intelligence, personality, attitude, interest and professional examinations. Qualification and skills are also assessed in this stage. The goal is to select candidates who meet the minimum requirements.

Selection interview – this interview usually is more comprehensive compared to the preliminary interview. In this stage of the selection process, the candidates are subjected to face-to-face interactions where critical aspects such as speech delivery, intelligence, motivation, and the capacity to understand a problem are evaluated. The candidates are interviewed on questions directly related to the job to gauge their suitability. These interviews can be structured, semi-structured or unstructured.

Reference check – this is a background information check usually done to confirm the information provided by the candidates are true.

Decision-making – this is usually the final step in which candidates who have succeeded in the above steps are presented with appointment letters. These letters contain information on job description, salary, benefits, accountability, authority, and etcetera.

Validity and Credibility of Selection Tests

The validity and credibility of the selection tests go a long way in determining the caliber of employees that will be hired. The overall goal is to hire employees who are the best fit in relation to the job and for this reason, it is imperative that the selection tests are rigorously analyzed using up-to-date credibility tests. In this regard, the reliability of selection tests can be examined using three different methods (Opayemi & Oyesola, 2013):

  • Over time – the outcome should be the same throughout the testing period.
  • Across different sample – the outcome from a group of employees ought to be the same during the testing period.
  • Across different rates – this test compares the results from two (or more) independent raters. A consistent rating throughout the testing period indicates that the selection test is reliable.

Similarly, validity tests simply evaluate the correctness of the selection test. The practice is that the candidates who emerge with the best results should be able to perform equally as well in real working environments. In other words, validity tests measure job relatedness. The commonly used validity tests are: (a) content validity, (b) concurrent validity, (c) predictive validity, and; (d) construct validity (Bertua, Anderson, & Salgado, 2005). The details of these validity tests are beyond the scope of this discussion and therefore will not be discussed herein.

The Importance of Recruitment and Selection

Since a comprehensive summary of the recruitment and selection process has been provided in the preceding paragraphs, this paper now focuses on the importance of the recruiting and selection process. As such, the proceeding analysis will categorize the four significant implications for the recruitment and selection process into (i) costs, (ii) retention, (iii) productivity and loyalty, and; (iv) legal issues.

Cost

A common perception among HR professionals is that a lot of money and effort goes into managing employees and this sometimes leads into a situation where organizations end up over-staffing or understaffing for its organizational needs. Logically when the number of employees in a department is higher relative to the need for which they were employed, then the company will incur higher operational costs in maintaining such as department (Ekwoaba, Ikeije, & Ufoma, 2015). In the long run, this will diminish the earnings of the company. Conversely, when an organization understaffs a department such that critical positions are left unattended, then the organization also faces the risks of incurring losses because of reduced revenue earnings.

Today the traditional concept of hiring where all job vacancies were treated equally has shifted to one that prioritizes the hiring process as one based on criticality. The objective of this style is to create a perfect balance between work that needs and employees in a manner that is sustainable for the company. Moreover, the process of recruitment and selection places more emphasis on selecting and ultimately hiring the candidates that exhibit the highest level of competency and skill (Ekwoaba et al., 2015). As such, the cost of hiring a candidate has a direct implication on the company, and as demonstrated in most cases, weak hiring mechanisms do place higher costs on the organization (Ekwoaba et al., 2015).

A weak hiring system is likely to bring in employees with high failure rates. This happens when a newly hired employee(s) voluntarily quits or is terminated within a few months irrespective of their performance. Weak hiring systems thus create a situation where a company can repeat the recruitment and selection process for the same position repeatedly – a scenario that increases the costs of damages incurred by the organization (Ekwoaba et al., 2015).

As technology continues to be more and more integrated into the management of businesses, most companies are going the extra mile into not only using job recruiters who possess business acumen, astute judgement, and an ability to foresee the crucial factors that will likely impact the growth requirements of their organizations, but also supplementing their effort with talent management and recruitment software to facilitate the efficacy of the recruitment and selection process (Bhatia, 2013). The use of tried and tested technology is thus a practical recommendation that is expected to reduce the inefficiencies of human-led recruitment and selection processes significantly.

Productivity and Loyalty

These two entities are linked – an employee who feels connected to the organization will work hard to help it achieve its objectives. On this basis, it is the recruiter’s responsibility to ensure that they get as much details from potential employees in order to sufficiently analyze their strengths and weaknesses. These pieces of information can be obtained from the candidates if the recruitment and selection process employs strategic mechanisms for achieving this goal. In general, loyal employees demonstrate a track record of competitiveness, innovation, excellence which cumulatively results in increasing the profitability of the business.   

Legal Issues

The most common legal problem that arises from recruitment and selection processes is discrimination. Discriminatory practices often have dire consequences on the reputation of an organization and sometimes can also have financial implications. In the United States, for instance, the department of labor expressly prohibits discrimination based on religion, race, sex, political affiliation, and many other features that have often been used in facilitating discriminatory practices (Saez, 2018). In the end, recruiters are required to implement checks and balances to ensure that their methods are beyond reproach. For example, most organizations advertise only the basic requirements for the job. In recent years, the practice of listing language proficiencies and physical capabilities has gradually been phased out unless they are inherently vital in the position (Heneman III, Judge, & Kammeyer-Muller, 2015). Some organizations also encourage the recruitment and selection process to be run by more than one recruiter.

Practices and Trends in HR

The standard practice in many HR functions seems to be that most organizations do not concern themselves with the Return on Investment (ROI) especially when it comes to their human capital. Most organizations are guilty of perpetuating a recruitment process that does not measure the impact that its employees have on the organization. This is compounded by the trend among organizations not to document or make reports on their recruitment process. Furthermore, there is no accountability on HR regarding the opportunities missed and the costs incurred during the recruitment (Cascio, 2016). But as focus on strategic activities of HR departments continue to increase, an ever-increasing number of organizations are becoming more interested in calculating ROI on recruitments. As such, the activities and functions of HR are increasingly being assessed in a bid to quantify their outcomes and results.

Admittedly, calculating the ROI on recruitment is not an easy process because of the high numbers of variables involved. But since it portends critical implications on the activities of the whole organization, this is a task that every recruitment manager needs to perform. To achieve this, the manager should (Thoo & Kaliannan, 2013):

  • Define the objectives of the recruitment in terms of the results that should be achieved.
  • Devise mechanisms to accurately measure critical aspects of the recruitment process such as time of hire, the effectiveness of recruitment source, and the cost-of-hire.
  • Establish a precise estimate of the costs of the recruitment project.
  • Calculate the intangible and tangible benefits the organization will accrue, including payback period, from the recruitment.
  • Ensure that recruitment managers are well trained.

The ability to evaluate the recruitment process in terms of ROI is fundamental for organizations that desire to strengthen their HR processes. This is because it significantly improves the recruitment function and develops a strategic human capital advantage for the company (Thoo & Kaliannan, 2013).  But even as employers pile the pressure on HR professionals for increased accountability, experts contend that recruiting trends are getting more and more competitive. The main trends that have dominated talent acquisition in recent years are branding, repairing the potential candidate’s experience, maximizing talent analysis, and venturing into untapped sources (Maurer, 2016). They are also aware that getting real talent is getting harder and this is forcing companies to reinvent their strategic approaches to talent acquisition. The year 2015 beckoned the beginning of thoughtful attitudes in recruitment, but this approach will only pay off for companies and organizations that focus on important success determinants.

Employers are expected to improve their branding if they are to attract highly qualified job seekers who themselves are becoming increasingly selective about companies.  The onus is on employers to make themselves attractive to potential employees, and this means availing as much information as they can about the organization, its culture as well as corporate values. Some organizations have taken this a notch higher- they are using employees’ photos to showcase their culture, training opportunities, and key benefits associated with working with them (Maurer, 2016). This practice is supported by the notion that employees are the best brand ambassadors any organization and as such, their stories do much more compared to the company’s mission statement.

Another trend that is expected to continue is the use of talent analytics. Talent acquisition professionals are under increasing pressure to demonstrate ROI in the recruitment process. This has forced them to move away from traditional methods of recruitment that were primarily based on instincts and instead focus on techniques that can convert everyday data into actionable information that can guide decision-making (Maurer, 2016). With the advent of HR data scientists, data science in HR has become a fundamental aspect of the recruitment process.

Most companies are going beyond routine operational measurements like cost-per-hire, source-of-hire, and time-to-fill to mine more in-depth metrics on talent (Morgan, 2018). Some organizations have turned to data analytics to analyze competitors’ talent pools with the aim of finding the candidates with the skill-set that they want and which can be convinced to join their organizations. The use of talent data analytics essentially captures the whole-person analysis in determining whether potential employees have the experience, competencies, drivers, and traits to bring additional value to an organization.

Employers have widened the scope of their talent search by venturing into new sources. Cross-industry hiring, for instance, is believed to make persons who have worked in various fields acquire experience that could come in handy. These types of employees also carry with them a wealth of cultural diversity that is especially appealing for new companies (Maurer, 2016). Nevertheless, internal hiring is likely to be embraced going forward because of the advantages it has over external hiring. According to Bryne Mulrooney, the CEO of a company that specializes in recruitment, internal sourcing has a shorter hiring-to-productivity time and considerably lowers staffing costs, which in the long run translates into better financial performance. This system also promotes talent development – a feature that keeps employees motivated as they become more valuable to the organization as the knowledge they acquire compounds with time (Maurer, 2016). The consensus is that the hiring process has changed fundamentally and in addition to personality and aptitude, experience is increasingly being seen as one employee feature that can be adjusted.

Repairing the candidate experience is another trend that most organizations are quickly catching up on. They try to create positions that can be filled with candidates with the right combination of skills and competence. Failure to maintain contacts with employees, minimal engaged by recruitment during the recruitment process, and tedious and lengthy application process do leave candidates and employees feeling unappreciated.

Elaine Orler, the CEO of a talent acquisition consultancy firm based in San Diego, opines that every touch point starting from the application process to the interactions with the schedulers to interviewers’ preparedness to turnaround time, creates an impression in the candidate about the employer (Maurer, 2016). The well-coordinated these experience are the higher the acceptance rates of a firm considering that highly skilled candidates will most likely be juggling job offers from different companies. In short, recruiters are expected to give candidates white-glove treatment whether they succeed for the job or not for it increases the interest of the candidate to apply when another opening comes up.

Technology is slowly but gradually being integrated into the talent acquisition processes. Cross-platform expansion and technology consolidation are becoming increasingly streamlined as organizations shift from multiple vendor systems to conflating their tracking systems, management of their human capital, and video conferences into one platform (Maurer, 2016). While this process is admittedly coming along at a slow pace, its impact in HR processes stands to be significant. Nonetheless, conventional talent management suites have also been expanding and increasing their recruiting potential. But while the recruitment and selection would seem, in principle, to be a straightforward HR process, the reality is much different in practice. The following section outlines some of the common challenges faced by HR recruiters and the possible solutions that have been proven to help in alleviating some of these problems.

Common Challenges in HR Recruitment and Selection

The recruitment process is widely seen as a procurement activity designed to identify and hire the best candidates for a job. On the part of recruiters, this directs attention to their expertise, business perspective, and ability to make decisions that are beneficial to both the organization and the individual. The challenges start from the type of recruitment method to use – whether to use internal or external talent pools. The ever-evolving job market dynamics with regards to technologies, recruitment sources, competition and etcetera compounds the range of problems that HR professionals encounter. Furthermore, in a job market that is already saturated, recruiters are constantly faced with new challenges that they ultimately need to overcome in order to get the best candidates in line with the requirements of the organization.  While these problems are unmistakably unique to every organization, the primary challenges faced by recruiters are:

Adapting to globalization – the HR professionals are typically required to keep pace with changes happening in the within the realm of Human Resources across the world (Thoo & Kaliannan, 2013).

Minimum motivation – the view of most HR professionals is that recruitment is a thankless job because they seldom get the appreciation and recognition they believe they deserve for getting the best candidates and top performers for the company especially when the impact of these candidates is tangible across the performance spectrum (Thoo & Kaliannan, 2013).

Process analysis – most companies demand a flexible, responsive, cost-effective and adaptive recruitment process that is timely and able to cater to the company’s requirements (Thoo & Kaliannan, 2013). Nevertheless, such companies might not be investing in attaining such systems.

Strategic prioritization – HR professionals are often required to make strategic moves when performing their recruitment and selection functions. This is to enable them to exploit the opportunities that arise from the challenges that come with new systems (Thoo & Kaliannan, 2013). As such, reviewing staffing needs and prioritizing tasks in line with markets demands has in recent years emerged as a critical challenge for these professionals.

Workforce diversity – while ideally, diversity is a good aspect of an organization’s workforce, sometimes integrating people from different cultures and backgrounds do present significant challenges for HR professionals (Kamran et al., 2015). If this aspect is not managed correctly, it does escalate conflict levels in an organization and ultimately impairs the ability of the organization to achieve its goals.

Government policies – this is an external challenge that most HR departments have to acknowledge. Government policies can limit the operations of HR and certainly has implications for organizational demands and needs (Kamran et al., 2015).

Conclusion

The recruitment and selection process varies from one organization to the other, and this variance can be as a result of many factors such as the size of the company, corporate culture, objectives, and etcetera. Be that as it may, the importance of the recruitment and selection process in helping in the attainment of organizational goals and objectives has been adequately substantiated in this paper. The fundamental role of the recruitment function is to avail the best candidates for the organization, and the benefits that are associated with an effective recruitment process are numerous ranging from cost reduction, elimination of potentially catastrophic discriminatory practices, enhanced employee productivity and retention, and compliance with legal requirements.

However, recruitment is not a simple, straightforward exercise – it is hampered by a wide array of challenges that make the role of HR professionals increasingly tedious. The current trends in HR practices as discussed in this article enumerate some of these bottlenecks and the potential ramifications they portend to any organization. Furthermore, as the job market becomes more and more saturated, talent acquisition is becoming a much harder objective to meet. HR recruiters have been forced to employ somewhat unconventional methods to keep up the ever-evolving corporate landscape. And as these challenges continue, HR professionals are facing increased calls for accountability – an aspect that has created a need to adopt more empirical-based approaches in the recruitment function as more organizations demand favorable ROIs on the investments on their human capital. With this in mind, below are some of the recommendations that could significantly address the issues in HR recruitment.

Recommendations

At the elementary level, recruitment and selection process should be well-defined in order meet its critical objective – tapping the best talent. It is also vital that the response time during the whole recruitment process is reasonable relative to the time frame provided in order to minimize the chances of losing potential employees to rival companies. The methods used in this crucial process should be versatile but effective. With the advent of social media and the World Wide Web, there are numerous sources of talent pools that can be exploited by recruiters.

The conventional stage-by-stage interview like the one discussed in this paper are time-intensive and are less cost-effective. A practical interview strategy like panel interviewing would portend better returns in the short term since it is less time-consuming. However, it might not be effective in identifying the most appropriate candidate. A well-structured recruitment process that is clear on the type of candidate the organization wants and which is within the cost and time constraints may be a better alternative. The uniqueness of organizational needs and demands means that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy with regards to recruitment and selection.

Some challenges such as lack of motivation, strategic prioritization, and process analysis boil down to organizational policy. But HR professionals should be able to demonstrate that with better corporate policies, their processes can yield better ROIs for the organization. As such, HR should play a core function in the design and implementation of these policies. The integration of technology in recruitment should shift focus to empirical-based methods rather than the traditional methods which were more instinctive.

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References

Alsabbah, M. Y., & Ibrahim, H. I. (2013). Recruitment and Selection Process and Employee Competence Outcome: An Important Area for Future Research. Human Resource Management Research, 3(3), 82-90.

Bertua, C., Anderson, N., & Salgado, J. F. (2005). The predictive validity of cognitive ability tests: A UK meta‐analysis. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 78(3), 387-409.

Bhatia, T. (2013, June 13). Recruitment and selection – The most important HR function.

Cascio, W. F. (2016). Managing Human Resources Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education.

Ekwoaba, J. O., Ikeije, U. .., & Ufoma, N. (2015, March). The Impact Of Recruitment and Selection Criteria on Organizational Performance. Global Journal of Human Resource Management, 3(2), 22 – 23.

Heneman III, H. G., Judge, T. A., & Kammeyer-Muller, J. (2015). Staffing Organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Kamran, A., Dawood, J., & Hilal, B. S. (2015). Analysis of the Recruitment and Selection Process. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Management Science and Engineering Management (pp. 1357 – 1375). Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Maurer, R. (2016, February 1). 5 Recruiting Trends for 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2018, from Society for Human Resource Management.

Morgan, D. (2018, November 6). Top Skills of High Performing HR Data Scientists. Retrieved November 8, 2018, from Human Resources Today.

Opayemi, A., & Oyesola, T. (2013, August). Perception of selection interview, selection test and employee performance: An empirical analysis. Journal of Public Administration and Policy Research, 5(4), 95-101.

Saez, A. (2018). Importance of Effective Recruitment & Selection. Retrieved November 10, 2018, from azcentral.

The Strategic Importance of Recruitment. (2012, November 21). Retrieved November 10, 2018, from Human Resource Students Association.

Thoo, L., & Kaliannan, M. (2013). International HR Assignment in Recruiting and Selecting: Challenges, Failures and Best Practices. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 3(4), 143 – 159.

Did you find any useful knowledge relating to recruitment and selection in this post? What are the key facts that grabbed your attention? Let us know in the comments. Thank you.

Employees Emotions Management

Employees Emotions Management – An Introduction

Emotions of employees play a great role in the business processes and activities of the organization and therefore they need to be taken care of. Prior these emotions would be assumed to be job satisfaction and employee’s well-being related and managers would look for a way of sorting that out, but currently there is a lot be done about them. These includes managers identifying the emotion, determining the cause of the emotion, examining respective challenges in the quest to manage the emotion, and determine the expected measures required to manage that emotion for the good of the organization activities. In this paper, we are going to discuss different employees’ emotions at their workplaces, the causes, and different ways in which managers can manage those emotions.

As human beings, emotions are part of us and differ according to the nature of conditions we are in. Emotions create social bonds, examine them, and uphold them. Thus social movements, conflicts, and social changes are determined by our emotions. In the workplace, these emotions determine how the organization fraternity communicates within and to the outsiders such customers, the government, and the stakeholders. Usually, emotions are classified to two, namely; behavioral and attitudinal. These two can be generally said to be either positive or negative emotions and they both have a substantial impact on the performance of the organizations.

Actually, positive emotions in the workplace mostly bring favorable outcomes from the employees. Consequently, negative emotions among the employees such as stress, anger, sadness, and fear in most case results to poor performance in the workplace and also influences negative views on the organization from the outsiders. For instance, consider an employee who is frustrated and now he/she is full of negativity, he/she would give a negative judgment to even good news that an organization may have received. Hence employees’ emotions have a great impact on decision making, respective job performance, creativity, improvements, turnover, management, negotiations, and teamwork (Neal & Catherine 2002).

Researchers have really worked on employee’s emotions and how they are to be managed because of their effects on the performance of the business organization (Harter, Schmidt & Hayes 2002). Initially, the study of the employee’s emotion used to be based on the sales and profits that the organization, the case known as emotional labor, in which the values of individual’s emotions were less treated (David 2012). In addition to many research bodies venturing in the issue, scientists in the management department have also worked on it and have come up with many theories explaining the importance of managing employees’ emotions. For instance, Weiss and Cropanzano’s (1996) theory explains in details the importance of maintaining employee’s emotions. The theory indicates that emotions of worker are influenced by many factors including the working environment conditions. These theories summarize emotions to be rational and reasonable (Abdullah & Rashid 2012).

Managing employee’s emotions is a complex activity but for the purpose of good performance, both private and public organizations are supposed to have relevant human resources which are qualified and skilled in handling them (Morrow & McElroy 2003). To maintain and be able to deal with different emotional situations in the organization, these human resources should be intellectuals in emotions case studies (WALL 2008). Consequently, studies depict that specific issues should be examined in conjunction with the emotions of workers and the management should be in a position to deal with them. Such issues include; stress management, effectiveness in the organization’s communication systems, and satisfaction of employees with their respective roles (Hassan, Hashim & Ishak 2011).

Employees Emotions – Cause of different types of emotions in an organization

Emotions of employees are usually associated with the occurrence of certain events in an organization or at their homes which are strong enough to unsettle their thinking process. As mentioned earlier, in general emotions can be classified into two main categories; positive and negative emotions. Excitement and high achievement at work are examples of positive emotions and are said to have positive impacts such as tenacity and enhanced intellectual functioning and great performance in employees’ respective roles.

Positive emotions in employees’ are determined by one’s personality, an individual who is always calm and relaxed is likely to have a positive emotion irrespective of what the supervisor or co-workers have done to them. Other factors which can influence positive emotions in employees include; rewards, compliments from the management, work offloads, good leadership, and good social relations between the organization’s fraternities.

Negative emotions in the workplace can be caused by lack of rewards, poor leadership, poor social relationship, cynic activities, lack of guidance, work overload, lack of backup, aggression, computer flaming, assertiveness, verbal abuse, lack of confidence between co-workers, and many negative activities in an organization. Negative emotions within the organization negatively affect the performance of workers. Also, the situation where workers are directed by their supervisors to act polite and pleasant to clients irrespective the conditions of work, which described as emotional labor, affects the performance of the organization.

The management of organizations train emotional labor, control them, and suppress their feeling for the purpose of maintaining an outward look to other employees. When employees look at the motivated emotional labor, those with easily aroused emotions gets inducted with positive emotions thus improving his/her job performance. Hence the management succeeds in its goal of influencing employees’ emotions. Despite that, emotional labor has negative effects on the employees, because of the pressure from their supervisors they feel frustrated, stressed, exhausted and in some cases experience burnouts (Hochschild 1983).

How to manage emotion of employees in an organization

Managers have found it crucial to take care of the employees’ emotions because of the intensity of impacts they have to the business organization. Also, the owners have come up and financed such management taking into consideration of how much those emotions would cost the organization if not managed. Alternative, it is said that the management can maximize the benefits of emotional labor by keenly selecting worker during deployment on the basis of style and norm which can be easily be manipulated.

Employees Emotions Management
Employees Emotions Management

Most employees dedicate more of their focus on their problems that on their jobs and therefore it necessary to know how to deal with their emotion as their manager. In order to manage employees’ emotions well it require the manager to have the following capabilities; have good emotions, be able to deliberately take part in an emotion, be cognizant in monitoring employees’ emotions, be able to change the negative emotions in employees, and be open to both negative and positive emotions (Mayer & Salovey 1997, p. 332). Below are the ways of managing employees’ negative emotions;

Understanding the Triggers of their Emotions

It is obvious that every human’s emotions should be due to certain issues. Therefore for the manager to control their emotions and encourage them to complete their tasks it is necessary to first understand what the cause is. It advisable for the manager to give the employee time to explain himself/herself as this will make him/her feel respected.

Empathize with Employees

After knowing what is affecting the employees’ emotions, take time as manager to empathize with those whose causes are sad moments. Empathizing with your employees strengthens your relationship with them and creates a positive rapport.

Employees Emotions Renovate the Problem

Managers are to renovate the cause of negative emotions of an employee by offering the necessary resource required. Renovating the cause gives the employee an opportunity to acquire positive emotions towards his/her job. If it is dissatisfaction in his/her job, stress, verbal abuse by supervisors or co-workers the management is required be able to solve the problem (Hassan, Hashim & Ishak 2011).

Maintain Employees’ Dignity and Give them Space

An employee might shed tears in the scene of explaining the cause of his/her emotions and this makes others feels bad. Managers are advised to keep their dignity by making them feel there is nothing bad with crying. Also, if necessary the employee can be given time to deal with whatever is affecting their emotions.

Staying Connected with Employees, Offering Training, and Periodic Seminars

Managers are supposed to keep in touch with employees emotionally to know the status of their emotions. Also, offering training services to employees will assist in solving the problem as they would be able to deal with their emotions at personal levels without involving the management. Consequently, this will enable the organization save resources which it would need use in dealing with each employees’ emotions (Boateng & Agyei 2013).

Attributes Associated With Emotional Intelligence of Employees

By looking at the model of Goleman, we realize the five emotional intelligence attributes that are important in a given workplace. They include, Self-awareness, Awareness of others, Self-management, Empathy, and Relationship management. Self-awareness is the knowledge of internal preferences state of one, the resource and instincts. It also includes knowing the emotions of one, strengths, the weaknesses, and capabilities. Through this, one is required to be emotionally self-aware, precise in the self-analysis and the self-confidence.

Self-management is the management of the internal state of one with the resources and the impulses in facilitating the achievable goals through flexibility, dedication and trustworthy within the workplace. The most important features in the workplace are the transparency, the initiative in place, optimism, and adaptability of the individual (Hassan, Hashim & Ishak 2011). The social awareness attribute is the awareness and the feelings of other people, their needs and the required concerns by one being empathetic.

Some other essential features also include organizational knowledge, service and the empathy shown to others (Hassan, Hashim & Ishak 2011). Relationship management, as an attribute of emotional intelligence, is the proficiency at inducing the required responses in others. This is achieved by assisting them to develop themselves and the capability of one solving the arguments and building of good relationship within the workplace. The most important features in this attributes are the inspiration, influence on others, teamwork and conflict management.

Empathy is also as an emotional trait is the ability of one to communicate and understand others through their views, feelings and thoughts. It usually helps in setting a stage through being a better listener and building of the self-awareness of an individual within a given workplace. Moreover, the more one can understand his feelings and thoughts; the more one will do to others.

Embodying the attributes of Emotional Intelligence

The characteristics of emotional intelligence are crucial components when it comes to effective leadership within the workplace. By understanding the operation within the brain and the system of emotional response within it, a leader is capable of identifying an appropriate factor in placing one into a team within the organization. When a leader is capable of relating the behavior and emotional intelligence challenges within an organization through the performance of the workplace, one gains the advantage of building an excellent team.

Communication deficiency, therefore, is one of the factors that lead to retention within the workplace. This leads to disengagement within the team members (Hochschild 1983). When a leader lacks some of these attributes of emotional intelligence, he lacks the expectation of those that follows him. When a leader reacts with the emotions of the members without shift, mistrust is created among the employees; thus, their working relationship is affected.

Reacting with unpredictable emotions towards the staff members can affect negatively the culture, positive feeling, and attitude of the company’s mission and goals. Therefore, good leaders should be self-aware and be able to understand how their teams can be affected both by the verbal and non-verbal communications. Through some training and academic knowledge, one can build alliance within a given team, communicate efficiently, and develop quick decisions in the highly stressing situation within the workplace.

Increasing Employee Motivation and Performance within the Workplace

The first measure to undertake in increasing motivation and performance within the workplace is by improving communication. This can be achieved when line managers communicate with the employees personally and not through emails. Sparing some time to talk with employees often makes the employee feel more involved. Secondly, the management needs to personalize the recognition of the employee. When employee motivational program is run, one can choose the desired reward; hence gaining motivation. These include rewards such as certificates and gifts tickets of concerts.

Thirdly, one needs to start the program of employee-shareholding. For instance, when the company is traded on NYSE, managers can make the employees feel as part of the organization by making them own the company. This is done by allowing them buy shares at discount and allocating shares specifically for employees (Hochschild 1983). Fourthly, one needs to increase the responsibility of these employees to make them develop a greater feeling of business ownership hence motivating them to put more effort in their work in making the company succeed.

One can also offer the employees the opportunity to undertake training in improving their skills within the enterprise. Fifthly, the employees should be granted a flexible working schedule. In most cases, employees do prefer working hours that will not hinder their lifestyle. Therefore, offering flexible working hours such as telecommuting improve their motivation.  Lastly, one needs to give a reward to good work. For instance, employees can be paid parts based on the quality of their work. They can also earn the bonuses according to the productivity of their shifts; hence, motivating them towards their work environment.

Employees Emotions Conclusion

In conclusion, it is not possible to ignore emotions among employees since as human beings they would not lack them. Sometimes emotions are carried from different places either from home or somewhere on the way to the organization; therefore, the management should not assume that employees always reports to the work with positive emotions. If not well managed, emotions can severely affect the organization negatively. Thus it is, therefore, necessary for the organization to allocate enough resources specifically for managing emotions among employees. Alternatively, employees are required to be free to share their feelings with the relevant department for easy management of the emotions. Lastly, training and seminars for employees on how to manage their emotions are encouraged as they make the issue simple and convenient to solve.

References

Abdullah, M. & Rashid, N. 2012, ‘The Implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programs and its Impact on Employee Organizational Citizenship Behavior’, International Journal of Business and Commerce, vol.2, no.1.

Boateng, I. A. & Agyei, A. 2013,’ Employee’s emotions: A manageable weapon for organizations’, International Journal of Human Resource Studies, vol. 3, no. 4.

David, S. 2012, CSR and its Impact on Employee Engagement, Mark Allen Group, London.

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Hassan, J. K., Hashim, F.Y. & Ishak, M. S. 2011, ‘Human Resource Management – Emotional Intelligence: Communication Effectiveness mediates the Relationship between Stress Management and Job Satisfaction’, International Journal of Managing Information Technology, Vol.3, No.4.

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Employee Motivation Theories

Employee Motivation

Employee motivation and motivation in general can be defined as a psychosomatic process that directs a person to behave and react in a way that helps them to satiate certain unfulfilled needs (Latham G., 2011). Motivation is what provides the stimuli and direction towards which employees can execute their duties (Lauby S., (2005). Motivation can be broken into three distinct categories that depend on each other for success. First of all, individual choices are driven by persistence, which reminds them of their unfulfilled needs. The choice taken will make an employee change their behavior in order to be in the right direction that would allow them to achieve those needs. Thirdly, there is the upholding of that behavior, which will go on until those needs and desires are achieved. Motivation however occurs differently in varying situations. Achieving a specific goal requires a particular motivational strategy and that same strategy cannot be used to achieve another goal.

Employee Motivation Theories

Need-Based Theories

According to Gary Latham (2011), employees draw their motivation from unfulfilled needs that they need to satisfy. Were it not for those deficiencies, then people would never have enjoyed work. The motivation to work therefore is directly equated to human needs. Once those needs are fulfilled, then the morale to work goes down. These theories were however opposed and criticized strongly by many researchers (Latham, 2011). They argued that individuals did not receive motivation to work due to fulfilling certain needs. Research conducted by these groups reveals that apart from just fulfilling their needs, many people engage themselves in jobs for enjoyment. An artist will not just draw a beautiful portrait of Zeus just to sell it and make money, but also to practice and enjoy what they do best (Latham, 2011). Examples of need-based theories include Maslow’s theory of needs, McClelland’s theory, ERG theory and Herzberg’s two factor theory. This review will only discuss the Maslow’s theory of needs and Herzberg’s two factor theory.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

This theory views motivation as a desire that changes over time and these shifts are governed by different levels of needs. These needs are the actual drivers of employees to work hard in order to achieve their goals by all means. According to Hiam Alexander (2003), these needs are organized into a certain hierarchical order that one must follow in order to reach the highest levels. While coming up with this theory, Maslow suggested that needs already satisfied can no longer motivate someone to work hard. Once they achieve their purposed needs, employees begin to drift towards fulfilling needs that are situated at a higher level in the hierarchy. This theory was however criticized strongly because one does not have to follow the order as put by Maslow in satisfying their needs. The order that Maslow proposed starts with biological and physiological needs at the base, followed by safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

As much as Maslow tied employee motivation to hierarchical needs, Hiam believes that recognition, involvement and participation are among some of the factors that motivate a worker at the workplace.

Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

According to Crouse Norm (2005), factors such as involvement, achievement, autonomy, participation, delegation and recognition are what increases the motivation of employees towards achieving a certain goal. Apart from that, hygienic factors such as working conditions, salary, and policies also influence the motivation of employees. As Crouse (2005) further states, poor hygienic conditions and poorly managed administrative policies lowers the morale of workers in an organization.

This theory suggests that employers should play the role of motivating their employees and is key to employee motivation. They should strive to ensure that all the factors involving working conditions go in favor of the employees – considering these factors will improve performance and bring better results for any organization. Both the two factors proposed in this theory work alongside each other.

No factor is independent on its own. Once the hygienic factors are fulfilled, the motivational factors can also be satisfied. Trying to satisfy only one set may lead to the lowering of work morale among workers, though. After doing away with the dissatisfaction in hygienic factors, employers should look forward to involving their employees in participating and developing programs. This will influence how they will perceive themselves as a part of the organization, with their due respect and recognition. This will make them improve their performance in the workplace, for they will not only increase the returns but they will also make the working environment appear more healthy and active. The model below demonstrates how Herzberg’s two factor theory is carried out.

Employee Motivation and Motivators

Ego/EsteemJob Enrichment
Self ActualizationJob Enrichment
Hygiene FactorsJob Enrichment
SocialJob Enrichment
SafetyJob Security
PhysiologicalSalary
Employee Motivators

This theory was also criticized severely by Bruce Anne (2006), who argued that it did not serve the motivational needs of employees universally. Employees experience socioeconomic conditions differently and this makes them behave in variance. Herzberg’s theories assumed that the socioeconomic experiences of all employees are the same.

Process-Based Theories

Unlike need-based theories, these theories focus mainly on job aspects that motivate employees and change their behavior towards achieving their needs. According to Bruce (2006), these theories look at how employees fulfill their needs, while at the same time bargaining between behavioral choices that will suit their motivational patterns.

Cognitive Evaluation Theory

It is believed that extrinsic factors are independent from intrinsic factors in employee motivation. However, this belief does not work in contemporary organizations, because such intrinsic factors like participation and involvement are closely linked to extrinsic factors like financial incentives in the motivation of employees. This is where this theory comes handy, for it provides dependence between the external and internal factors and merges them also in the realization of an employee’s needs. Cognitive evaluation theory argues that satisfying internal factors first before proceeding to satisfy the external factors does not work. Both these factors are supposed to be satisfied at the same time for any improvement to occur in an organization.

Giving employees financial incentives and denying them an opportunity to participate and involve themselves in organizational matters such as decision-making will not motivate them fully towards achieving the goals and objectives of that organization (Latham, 2011). Some of the internal factors to be considered in employee motivation include appreciation of self-worth, employee autonomy and rewards for the achievements made. Organizations should consider such factors before coming up with job designs. The model below demonstrates various reward aspects.

Importance of Aspects of Reward

 ControllingInformational
Proposition 1Locus Of CausalityFeelings Of Competence
Proposition 2External/InternalSelf Determination
Intrinsically Motivated Task Behavior

Model adapted from Latham, 2011

Cognitive evaluation theory can help organizations to attract talented employees because of the commendable pay and the participation of employees in decision-making.

Goal Setting Theory

This theory was proposed by Edwin Locke and Latham in 1968. They viewed goal setting as a major basis and foundation of employee’s motivation. According to Latham (2011), the intention and objectives of an employee in a workplace is innate and that is what drives motivation. The more complex the goals become, the harder the employees work, thus improving performance. Organizations are therefore supposed to set more challenging goals for their employees in order to improve productivity. Motivation is the process that controls a person’s behavior in realizing and achieving certain goals and objectives.

As Latham further states, this theory only looks at the increasing complexity of goals with other factors remaining constant. In case there is an interruption in other contributory factors, then the challenge to achieve those goals becomes void. Apart from that, employees are supposed to accept the challenge of achieving their needs as presented to them by the goals set. Failure to accept those challenges will instead reduce the motivation towards performance.

Leaving the employees to set their own goals and objectives will result in better performance than when they are set for them by their organizations. According to Purcell John (2003), that autonomy makes employees believe in themselves and set goals that will be achieved more readily than if the goals had been set for them by others. Purcell (2003) further suggests that an employee who is restricted too much is less likely to get motivated than one that is left to participate in goal setting and decision-making processes. Contemporary organizations are supposed to therefore understand the needs of their employees before setting goals.

The Relationship between Managers and Employees

According to Ritter Joseph and Anker Richard (2002), the relationship between managers and their employees greatly affects motivation. Managers are supposed to come up with strategies that will ensure that employees remain motivated all the time. One related strategy is formulating a plan where the employee can have live forums with their supervisors and managers on a regular basis. Through those forums, managers are also supposed to recognize the behavioral patterns of their employees. Every employee has their own distinct behavior that cannot be compared to another. By understanding and appreciating the behavioral patterns of their employees, managers will be able to know which incentives and techniques to use to increase employee motivation.

Better communication between managers and their employees is also another factor that strengthens the relationship between them. Managers who rarely communicate with their employees suffer a blow when it comes to the overall outcomes of the organization. Ritter & Anker (2002) further point out that the closer the managers are to their employees, the more motivated the latter become. Regular communication between the two also makes managers understand the needs of each personal employee, thus knowing which technique to use to motivate them. According to Bruce (2006), most managers generalize the needs of their employees. This generalization is what leads to dismal performances in most organizations.

A study carried out by Sdrolias Maria, Terzidis Konstantinos and Vounatsou Maria (2005) shows that active, friendly and less strict managers are more inclined to motivate their employees towards achieving the organization’s goals and objectives. The study was conducted on eight employees of the Tech Organization in Canada. All the eight employees admitted that their manager was close to them and that he understood the individual needs of each of them.

Three employees said that they were more motivated by intrinsic factors than extrinsic ones, while the remaining five revealed that extrinsic factors carried the weight in their motivation. However, both extrinsic and intrinsic factors mattered in motivating these employees. If asked whether their manager understood them completely, all of them responded that he was a man who understood all their individual needs without generalizing.

Training as a Motivational Factor

Employee training is also another component that keeps employees motivated. According to Latham (2011), employees are supposed be trained on a more regular basis concerning the new technologies introduced in an organization. Most organizations introduce fresh changes in order to remain relevant in the market. Although such steps are taken to improve the performance of the organization, a issue arises when the employees fail to incorporate those technologies in their working systems. Many organizations will carry out a short-term internal training for their employees. According to Bruce (2006), this training technique discourages most employees because they are not given enough time to master new technologies. Instead, both internal and external training are supposed to be done. Employees should be sent out to a plethora of seminars and conferences that deal with the technology particular to the company.

This will not only give them exposure, but they will also see themselves as important players in the organization. The criteria used by some organizations to only send out only their supervisors and managers for further studies is never taken well by the employees. They see themselves as less important and this lowers their morale towards job performance thus reducing employee motivation.

Apart from technological training, organizations are also supposed to train their employees in special skills that will help them overcome difficulties and stress at the workplace. According to Bruce (2006), stress and other psychological issues like depression reduce the motivation of an employee drastically. Specialists are supposed to be brought and teach employees how they can reduce and manage their stress levels. It is difficult to realize the obstacles employees are going through unless managers develop a closer relationship with them.

A study conducted by Salmela Katariina & Numi Jari-Erik (2004) at Stanford University revealed that the non-teaching staff is motivated to work by the regular training they receive in their areas of expertise. One of the employees in the kitchen said that she strove to make the best food and serve her customers jovially. This, she said, was attributed to the program introduced by their manager to carry out a training that ran for 4 days for all the employees every month. She revealed that this not only helped her to improve her cooking styles, but it also encouraged her to be friendly and courteous to the people she served.

Teamwork as a Motivating Factor

According to Hiam (2003), teamwork is also one of the major components that determine the degree of motivation. In most companies and organizations, sales are achieved through teamwork. What determines motivation in a team is the type of task assigned and its expected outcomes. Once members gather together to fulfill a certain task, the bond and relationship among them heavily determines how that task will be accomplished. Team members are supposed to encourage one another and act as an example to others. Managers and supervisors on the other hand are supposed to evaluate and understand each team separately.

According to Latham (2011), every team in an organization has its own motivational factors which might be different from those of another team. To achieve their desired goals, managers should break down the assigned tasks into smaller and measurable units that will enable team members to easily assess the information on how they have performed. This will greatly help them in determining the amount of effort they are supposed to exert in order to complete remaining tasks. The selection and formation of teams should be done on the basis of compatibility. This step requires managers and supervisors to understand their employees well and how they can perform and react in certain situations. Even though it is useful to understand an employee on an individual basis, some employees are understood best in their various teams (Hiam, 2003).

The empirical research conducted by Latham (2011) shows that teamwork is actually one of the factors that contribute towards employee motivation. The study was conducted on employees of a bank in India. According to Latham (2011), banks are among the institutions that are generally believed to be dependent on individual efforts. This study, however, shows that bank employees feel more motivated when they work as a team and not on an individual basis. Ten bankers were interviewed and all of them agreed that consulting each other while on the job encourages one to work harder in order to achieve the set goals and objectives.

One of the respondents admitted that a career in banking is full of challenges and difficult moments. He cited some of the challenges which included serving fraudulent customers, attending to customers who had not fully complied with all the rules and even attending to clients whose money had been withdrawn by conmen. Due to these challenges, he argued that they should be given freedom to consult their workmates in order to be successful on the job. All the respondents said that their bank manager was strict and he rarely allowed them to communicate to each other, but they found themselves breaking that rule in order to seek help from their team members. All the respondents agreed that they would be more motivated to perform better if their manager allowed them to freely consult with each other while in the course of duty.

Employee-Motivation-Theories
Employee-Motivation-Theories

Employee Motivation – A Summary Showing the Relationship between Motivation and Job Satisfaction

Purcell (2003) points out that motivation is the key factor in determining the success of a worker. As observed from the above cases, motivated employees are more likely to meet the demands of a job than those who are not. Motivation is an innate aspect that drives one’s behavior towards achieving certain goals and objectives. Managers are supposed to understand the psychological needs of their employees before drawing work plans. Such psychological disturbances like stress and depression are likely to reduce the motivation of an employee in carrying out their duties. Employers are supposed to understand the behavior of their employees before delegating duties to them. Both the need-based and process-based theories discussed above reveal that intrinsic and extrinsic factors are supposed to be satisfied concurrently for better performance. Motivating an employee by financial incentives alone is not enough, for they will need to be recognized and appreciated as an important person in that organization.

Appreciating an employee can be done through many acts, including training and educating them on the rising issues in the organization. Employee motivation should therefore be considered as a key aspect of job satisfaction.

References

Bruce, A. (2006). How to Motivate Employees: 24 Proven Tactics to Spark Productivity in the Workplace. NY, McGraw Hill Professional.

Crouse, N. (2005). Motivation is an Inside Job: How to Really Get Your Employees to Deliver the Results You Need. Oxford, iUniverse.

Hiam, A. (2003). Motivational Management: Inspiring Your People for Maximum Performance. NY, AMACOM.

Latham, G. (2011).Work Motivation: History, Theory, Research and Practice. NJ, SAGE.

Lauby, S. (2005). Motivating Employees: Career Planning & Talent Management. Washington DC, American Society for Training and Development.

Purcell, J. (2003). Understanding the People and Performance Link: Unlocking the Black Box. NY, CIPD Publishers – Employee Motivation.

Ritter, J. & Anker, R. (2002). Good Jobs, Bad Jobs: Workers’ Evaluations in Five Countries. International Labor Review, 141(4), 331 – 358.

Salmela-Aro, K., Nurmi, J. (2004). Employees’ Motivational Orientation and Well-Being at Work. Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 17 No 5, pp. 471-489.

Sdrolias, M., Terzidis, K. and Vounatsou, M. (2005), Significance, Defining Factors and Consequences of Mental Alienation of Enterprises Personnel from their Work Environment in Organizational Culture, Corporate Governance and Competitiveness. Selected Proceedings of the First International Conference on Business, Management and Economics, 16-19 June, Izmir, Turkey,Vol.2, pp.27-41.

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