Introduction
Background of Study
In the early 1960s, a man by the name of Douglas McGregor wrote a book that expressed the human side of the business. He categorized workers under Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X explained an employee as a person who disliked work and efforts had to be made to push him around to do work while the latter indicated that a human being is by nature creative and will approach work with a positive attitude and do not necessarily have to be pushed around to work (Sheldrake, 2003).
The theory was later discredited by Abraham’s Maslow theory of human needs and its use was ignored completely in management. The needs theory depicts that a human being’s needs cannot be adequately met because as soon as one need is accomplished, a new need arises in its place. Since a satisfied need is not a motivator, a person will put effort to ensure he satisfies the need that is arising. Abraham defined five categories of needs in form of a hierarchy such that the satisfaction of a need of a lower layer motivated a person to satisfy the next need in the hierarchy (Deborah and Maslow, 2009).
This theory was a breakthrough in management as administrators had to no longer fear how to motivate and encourage their employees to work but rather they would employees’ needs and inspirations as a means to motivate them (Shelrake, 2003). The findings of Abraham’s Maslow needs theory meant that managers and the Human Resource department could employ anyone who identified with their objectives.
A robust human resource development department is an asset to a company as it helps in indicating the direction the company will take. If the department acquires non-performing employees it is bound to deny the company chances of progressing and at the same time if it has very highly skilled employees it will have to deal with the problem of conflicts and high payroll figures. A balanced Human Resource Group is a key to company progress. The application of modern principles as compared to native principles has helped companies reap great benefits from their companies.
Aim
This study aims to analyze the human resource functions of Fashion Stake’s human resource management concerning modern principles of human resource management and how well it has executed the functions of staffing, employee development, and improvement as well as employee relations and performance.
Scope
The study covers the issues provided within the essay and the theories relating to Human resource functions concerning staffing, development and relations, and improvement. The main organization discussed is the Fashion Stakes Industry.
Modern HRM functions
In his researches, DR. Rensis Likert in Lunenburg and Ornstei (2008), identified various forms of organizational leadership which he categorized into four major groups namely; the Exploitative-authoritative system, the benevolent-authoritative system, the consultative system, and the participative group system (Lunenburg and Ornstei, 2008).
Fashion Stakes appears to apply the participative group mechanism where decisions have arrived as a result of consultation and motivation is based on achievement goals set through unanimous agreements. This kind of management calls for the Fashion Stakes to take into account the fact that; if the management is to meet its objectives the senior employees and their juniors have to interact in a manner that enhances both their sense of personal worth and the importance of the organization(Lunenburg and Ornstei, 2008).
At the same time, this method of management requires that a group mix that ensures that the company can exploit the business opportunities it perceives in the future to be available at any particular time. The role of Fashion Stakes’ concerning Human Resource management issues includes Acquiring new talent, training them to form a positive culture as well as encouraging the formation of a positive relationship. The role is further stretched to the encouragement of participation of every employee and mutual interaction between all employees at all levels.
Staffing
In, modern terms staffing can be described as the act of attraction, acquisition, development, and keeping human resources that will provide the talent necessary to achieve the organization’s objectives (Gary, 2000).
According to modern human resource practices, the human resource department is charged with the responsibility of providing the organization with the best talent and at the same time ensuring that the available people are not too many or too few (Sparrow, 2009).
The consequence of incorrect staffing could be very expensive to Fashion Stakes in both extremes. If the company is understaffed, the organization will lose on various issues such as economies of scale, poor attendance to customer requests, lower profits, and collection of orders from customers. On the other hand overstaffing would lead to waste of resources and if sustained for long periods might force the organization to pay redundancy payments in case of layoffs but most importantly, overstaffing undermines efforts of competitive efficiency of the business (Gary, 2000). The main source of human resource strategy is the business strategy as it indicates what is expected to be achieved and the human resource strategy is formed as a hybrid of prescriptive and visionary perspectives (Turner, 2002).
Roby Batson, the Chief executive Officer of Fashion Stakes understands this principle very well as she staffs her company based on the results of the year as well as the expectations of the following year. This is a practice that is very relevant as the staffing levels should always depict the future expectations of the organization. Organizations of the industries are required to come up with a mix of talent that exploits all required demographic features such as age, gender potential of individual workers as a means to ensure that the organization can reap benefits in future sales forecasts and any other expectations. To achieve this, Heinz Weihrich and Harold Koontz (Harold and Heinz, 2008)proposed the following principle as a guide to effective staffing;
Objective of staffing
The person charged with the responsibility of staffing ought to ensure that only qualified people fill the positions of personnel within the company. The skill should be clearly stated during the recruitment process. This should be the first basis of rewarding employment that Fashion Stake should look for. When establishing for example the kind of designer they would wish to acquire Fashion Stakes should measure his competence.
This may be in form of how many years of how many designs he has come up with. Above that, the person chosen should be easily integrated into the firm. They should observe how well he will influence the relationship within the firm as well as how he will contribute to the organization. Fashion stakes manager sites the quality of the relationship between the manager and employees as a key when recruiting new employees.
Principle of staffing
Organizations ought to have well-defined obligations relating to the various jobs that they are offering. With good definitions the company will be in a position to attract the relevant skills as the people to be assessed will be assessed based on the obligations indicated.
Principle of Job definition
Since the positions of organizations are to be filled by people, the jobs ought to be described in the various dimensions that are of interest to people such as pay, status, power, direction, and possibility of accomplishment. Fashion Stakes manager describes dealing with the young people probably generation X as being confrontational. The company could ensure that they have a positive experience and one way to guarantee this is by providing relevant Job descriptions that will be used as the basis of their assessment when such confrontations arise.
Principle of managerial appraisal
The mode of selection should be based on verifiable objectives and standards of performance managers the managers will be assessed on their ability to plan, organize, direct as well controlling. Fashion Stakes Manager indicates that two important issues in dealing with a retail business are providing good services and avoiding staff turnover. One of the ways that they can ensure this is by, making sure that the staff they employ are in a position to handle the tasks that are accorded to the positions they fill.
Principle of open competition
The organization should encourage open competition among candidates to avoid the mistake of appointing the wrong candidate. Even when the recruitment is to be done internally the process should be seen to be done fairly. The manager indicates that some of the employees will be very task-focused and concerned, such people will be highly discouraged in case they do not get rewarded or they feel that a procedure of reward that was followed was not right. As a method to motivate them their concern should be rewarded through recognition and promotion methods that are legal.
Training and development
One of the most important aspects of any organization is its culture. Culture is the daily working environment that exists in a firm. It’s an important feature that in most cases determines how well an employee perceives work. Professors Ken Thompson (DePaul University) and Fred Luthans (University of Nebraska) identified several characteristics of organizational culture and one of the facts was that culture is negotiated.
A single person cannot dictate the culture of an organization despite his position or interest within the organization (Andrews, 2003). Therefore a need arises to train people to develop a culture that will support the attainment of objectives of the company positively.
Training allows people to exchange at an equal level therefore each worker’s contribution can be traced to the objectives of the company. This kind of owning of objectives allows the workers to formalize the strategic direction, come up with systems for measuring against. For a company to be at the edge in the provision of competitive and market-cutting products it is under an obligation to ensure that its workers are informed and kept up with technology, market forces, and the situation on the ground for the kind of markets they are dealing with.
Fashion stake’s management ensures that they hold discussions with the employees on such issues and set development plans on a timely basis. This makes sure the employees are well informed of the tasks they are undertaking as well as market forces. As a result of such discussions and training the firm ensures that the employees are not frustrated by deadlines and incompetencies ensuring that they enjoy their stay at the firm.
In the same line, Fashion Stakes indicates the managers of the company find it hard at times to know the areas that the employees are doing well and for such cases, they encourage the employee by giving him some constructive feedback. The discussion is usually open and honest for this case and areas of improvement are highlighted in those discussions. This recognition and rewarding remains to be the key to retention at Fashion Stakes
Employment relations and performance
One of the objectives of Fashion Stakes is to ensure that the employees value their firm as a firm of choice in terms of an employee relationship. The company understands that the way they deal with the employees is a critical factor in the provision of services to the customers. Batson indicates that as an initiative to promote the company’s CEO regularly visits the stores as means to connect with the staff. This forum allows them to gain clarity on issues like objectives and discuss issues on the ground that they feel should be changed. This idea boosts their motivation and morale.
One of the key aspects to ensuring that Fashion Stakes has used to retain their employees is to understand their cultural affiliation. Three broad groups have been identified in the United States of America and they include Generation X, Generation Y, and Baby boomers (Karen et al, 2000). This mode of generalization was brought about in 1993 by an advertising magazine AD which depicted that people behave the way they behave concerning the hurdles they come across in their growth. For example, Generation Y to some demographers refers to people born in the post-World War II era.
Generation Y are described as people who are generally impatient with a firm and will decide to stay or quit within the first six months. They live their work (are involved in the work that they are doing) and will at times inquire on some issues to which they expect to get answers. Generation X on the other hand is referred to by demographers as people who were born in the late 1970s (Estlund, 2003)).
These people are less attached to work and will not devote a lot of concern to how you treat them. They despise the idea of working for the government due to the layoffs that they observed when they were growing up. However, their rate of exit is rather low. Fashion Stakes Manager describes these people as confrontational as opposed to the generation of Y people who are more interested in work. To them, work is a routine, and deserve to be motivated more regularly. However, this generation boasts as the most educated and technologically conversant (Fleetwood and Hesketh, 2009).
They tend to use automated modes to advertise and market their products. The organizations’ future expectations in terms of sale market forces determine the mix of the two kinds of generations in its human resource Group mix (Sparrow et al, 2010). When establishing a culture with the two mixes of people you will expect that the people of group Y will be more in areas of leadership while those of generation X will be involved in autonomous activities like information technology.
Conclusion
In her article ‘What employees want from work’ Sparrow described five aspects that she perceives that the employees are interested to find in their workplace. First, employee deserves respect, an analysis of Fashion Stakes indicates that the company respects her employees as she states that they understand that every employee has the right to quit if he/she wants and for that reason, they work hard to provide an environment that every worker would wish to work under.
Secondly, the company believes that the employees must have a sense of belonging, her mode of management where the hold discussions on the objective of the company indicate that she wants to attract the participation of every employee in decision making as an incentive to make up their company objectives and feel a sense of belonging. Thirdly, employees want to learn new skills and promote their capabilities. Fashion stakes provide training by ensuring that the staff are aware of the market forces and are in a position to anticipate those opportunities they feel in a position to partake. This indicates that the firm’s interest in improving the workers as well as advancing their careers.
Fourthly, workers are interested in impacting the decisions that the firms undertake. The fashion stakes method of forming objectives through discussions encourages the workers to own the decisions and objectives. Lastly, every employee wants leadership, this instills in them a passion to continue working for the company as it places them in positions of leadership and responsibility (Sparrow et al, 2010).
The availability of the above positive features within the management of Fashion Stake indicates that the firm is on the right path in dealing with employees.
In return for the provision of the above services, the firm expects to reap maximum benefits from the group of people that they have employed. To obtain the greatest returns from employees the management ought to employ leadership roles that encourage workers to give maximum to the organization. A study by McKinsey dubbed, War of Talent, indicated that firms which had deep leadership talent were more profitable than those that were not (Michaels et al, 2001).
It has been proposed firms should obtain leaders with particular attributes to enable them to handle the organization’s objectives effectively. The organization should employ managers who indicate their attributes which are; they are in a position to set direction (they can anticipate the future in terms of strategy, destination, foresight, mission, vision, and technology), secondly, the leadership should mobilize individual commitment (they ought to be in a position translate future inspirations into the day-to-day behaviors and actions required of a worker) and the leadership should also engender organization capability (apart from ensuring that the organizations reap individual benefits the organizations capability should also improve) (Farndale, et al,2009 ). These qualities have been found within the management of Fashion Stakes and therefore they have a platform that is likely to encourage employees to offer their best.
The company however has to keep working to retain its employees because it looks short on skilled staff. To be in apposition to gain from the training they offer their employees, the company can be seen to employ policies that are geared to ensuring that the employees stay long enough to reap from its training. This intention will be rewarded at times and at other times they may not.
However, a look at the company indicates that the organization has largely employed Generation Y people. This subjects the organization to challenges associated with such people in such as high turnover rate (Turner, 2002). The company’s human resource policy ought to come up with a mix that will enable them to exploit future sales forecasts, and benefits brought about by technology that would enhance employment practice.
Recommendation
The research into various well-performing companies revealed some properties that have been highlighted in the Fashion Stakes management. One of the key practices was observed the possibility to change the culture, behavior, and perception of employees. A look at the organization may indicate as if it’s doing well and does not need to change anything based on discussed theories. However, it should be noted that the management is charged with the responsibility of evaluating the market forces, anticipating the changes, and at the same time provide for changes that may be required so as reap maximum benefits (Louis et al, 2005)
According to an article by Sparrow (Sparrow, 2009), a good manager identifies the strengths of his or her employees and motivates them based on those strengths. In that sense, the managers will provide an environment that practically supports and enhances employees’ motivation (Sparrow, 2010). The companies’ satellite picture of the Human resource department should depict the nature of the market and in such reference, it should have a mix that is round and supportive towards the achievement of the overall sales forecast and measure up technological initiatives that arise.
Fashion Stakes also seems to work hard to retain its employees, research has shown that the exit of a middle manager from a company costs as much as his salary to the company when he leaves (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2005). The organization’s effort of creating a conducive environment can be scaled up by providing the following: the organization should provide them with opportunities to learn and grow their careers, encourage recognition by seniors by appointing different people to head various tasks, the organization should refrain from threats on basis of job or income, the employees should be allowed to speak their mind freely as well as seek to utilize the talent and skills that the employees have(Ulrich et al,(1999).
Finally, the fashion industry is susceptible to market forces just like any other company. The firms’ mode of staffing, analysis of the business should reflect that economic, social, political as well as political forces. These aspects should be well known to managers, as well as the employees so that they can be adequately prepared to deal with these issues. The company’s mix should also be composed of people who are in a position to identify those issues as well integrate them in the annual strategy-making of the organizations.
The human resource fashion however should be recommended for their effort in the application of modern practices and their efforts to boost the morale of individual employees. I believe if the above recommendation were to be integrated into their operations the organization will be in opposition to reap more and use effort to motivate as well as retain their employees.
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