Introduction
Assessing strategic human resource management (HRM) initiative presents a detailed description of why the human resource (HR) department of an organization needs to align with its general plan. As a corporation grows and intends to succeed and remain profitable in the changing global business environment, its needs will change. In Maersk Group’s case, the firm started as a small corporation with a family-style structure.
They hired young inexperienced workforce, trained them, and saw them until their 50th anniversaries ( Notteboom, T., Satta, G., & Parola, F., 2020). Unluckily, the establishment was reluctant to discipline and terminate some of its underperforming staff, which significantly impacted its globalization plans. Therefore, this paper explores the various roles and processes within the enterprise’s human resource division.
Human Resource Management Functions and Practices
The current business environment changes as technologies, industries, and consumers are evolving in a digitally-driven marketplace. The shift has significantly impacted the people, and every commerce decision has a longstanding impact on a business. Consequently, the Maersk Company’s HR department should be equipped to inform approaches and assisting the employees navigates the changes. In the fluctuating contemporary economy, there are several ways to recruit, train, invest, and attract employees. However, it is impossible to address every initiative all at once (Hasan, 2020).
Thus, supporting Maersk’s trade plan will give its HR a tactical concentration and help in prioritizing its objectives. Likewise, structuring the HR department with its commerce plan will enable it to secure the right talent. Suitable ability is always valuable; nevertheless, Maersk should invest in distinct skill sets or roles at specific periods. Finally, structuring the establishment’s HR with its commerce strategy will enable it to move as a unit. Therefore, Aligning human resources (HR) with the business strategy can enhance workforce satisfaction and performance and ensure staff is inclined to assist the company in achieving its strategic goals and improving their influence and decision-making capability across the organization.
On the contrary, the current global industry that Maersk Group operates in has impacted its HRM practices in various ways. First, globalization on human resource development affects the necessity to consider cultural disparity both inside and outside the work environment. Despite Maersk having its corporate cultures and ways of operating, there are cultural and societal disparities between its employees that should also be considered (Hasan, 2020). Cultural norms within a community affect the staff and how they view their jobs, particularly relating to their loved ones and ideas about employment expectations. Some beliefs may also have capricious morals concerning gender roles, especially those about women in administration.
Moreover, a manager recruited to the company from home office may not be the best candidate to manage the overseas employees since they are not familiar with all the nuances of the local traditions and the business practices regarded worthy. For instance, in some economies, the typical working day may differ from 9 to 5 hours (Hasan, 2020). Workers might be accustomed to commencing their day earlier in the morning, taking long midday breaks for rest and lunch, and recurring to concluding their duties by early nightfall. Second, global conditions such as varying tax and labor regulations can further impact Maersk’s HRM practices. The HR division needs to be prepared to address different employee benefit requirements, taxation rates, and environmental laws (Hasan, 2020). These necessities may be in addition to or even diverge from the prevailing corporate guidelines; thus, adjustments should be made to maintain compliance with the local administrations.
Finally, as Maersk extends its operations to foreign markets, the impact of globalization conditions on HR processes extends to its prevailing and new employees. As the role of HR in globalization, the department will need to enhance support for its current workers as they transfer overseas to new positions. Assistance with housing, visas, training in cultural concerns, and work permits is necessary (Hasan, 2020). New local capabilities should also be developed and acquired to operate in the new marketplaces successfully.
Staffing
Maersk generally recruited young and untrained persons who had just graduated from high school. The newly hired workers would then be expected to complete a two-year training initiative and be given an employment position in foreign nations. The organization’s management had a family environment within the organization; thus, the personnel would stay with Maersk for 40 to 50 years (Morton, 2020). Maersk’s administration team usually faced difficulties in firing an underperforming workforce due to its family atmosphere. The strategy aligned with their visions and objective, which were to have a comprehensive standardized company-motivated principle.
However, when you equate and compare the hiring of personnel from the internal workforce and external job marketplace, working with staff from both job market areas is beneficial. However, promoting employees would be a plus since they can work faster than an externally sourced workforce. Internal personnel understands the strategic idea, organization’s laws and guidelines, and functional processes in comparison and contrast (Morton, 2020). Outsourcing is expensive due to training and getting the new workforce to commence tasks.
Moreover, some of the techniques that Maersk has employed to achieve effectiveness in recruitment procedures are that they usually train employees in numerous skills of the firm’s operations (Morton, 2020). The company, however, did poorly in concentrating on the needs of their staff. Maersk was underachieving in developing individuals’ growth with their teams through career management, a development linked to personal goals.
Training
Before commencing training, it is essential to understand what an organization is aiming to accomplish. One of the vital requirements would be an organizational assessment. Maersk highlights the roles and duties for the job position they are recruiting and the qualifications to become hired by the company. They offer vital information to explain the situation by informing the employees that they are expected to work for any American employer and should not expect additional relocation compensations and rewards (Morton, 2020). The second requirement is to conduct a task examination. Investigating the job duties and identifying where changes should be made or updated depending on the existing work requirements is necessary.
Additionally, the importance of evolving learning events in Maersk is to accelerate the worth and distribution of services to customers that conduct trade with the company. Consumer service is a vital resource an organization has at its disposal. Consequently, Maersk Customer Service is usually the first contact consumers have with the firm. The corporation can develop learning accomplishments by recording telephone conversations to analyze and employ them to train the workers on what to do and not to do (Morton, 2020). Furthermore, the managers should conduct training initiatives set for the customer care position where the employees take live calls under observation or beside a customer care expert.
The beliefs of an organization can determine the training plans that are established. Several employees have undergone computer-centered training, while some hands-on events and sitting and listening to the coach review presentations are done in PowerPoint. The PowerPoint slides should, however, be employed to present primary data for every personnel (Morton, 2020). There should be continuous training sessions in the customer service section, and all the personnel working in the customer service department should be given the same quality of training to improve the consumer experiences.
The value of the training assessment in a company is essential since they are used for the driving power influencing employee’s job capabilities. When the evaluation is conducted effectively, it will define who requires training, the type of drills, and the period. Training needs examination is the process that organizations utilize to evaluate or reevaluate their activities in a specific division or the whole establishment to detect areas where they are absent and are not realizing the objectives required in staff productivity standards (Morton, 2020). However, there are expenses linked to the training, thus providing drills to the workforces who do not need it to waste company resources.
Finally, it is crucial to develop Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-adapted goals. Specific is when the company managers record events concerning the work. It is generally written in uniformity such that whoever reads it can all reach similar conclusions. On the contrary, measurable is when a company designs a set of principles to measure and assess the work (Morton, 2020).
Achievable is certifying that the task is something a worker can actualize if trained appropriately. At the same time, realistic entails understanding how the job will be accomplished and how it will impact the business. Finally, time-adapted refers to how the task suits correctly in the time set by the firm. When it emanates to time alignment, the managers should have different period set-up since they will need a time frame for employing and training.
Evaluation
Performance administration is employed to certify that the directions and objectives of a company are on the accurate track that is in the firm’s interest. The performance controlling is aimed at undertaking the strategic responsibilities of the company. Human resource management (HRM) focuses entirely on HR assessment and information system, labor union regulations, staff support, and worker benefits (Notteboom et al., 2020). The human resource management articulates the suitable training activities that are incorporated with the business mission and values along with helping personnel realize their strategic objectives.
There are various distinctions between the behavioral, result-based, and trait performance appraisal systems. For instance, a trait can be described as personal characteristics that may comprise and are not restricted to assertiveness, appearance, labor principles, management, reliability, and conclusions.
There are numerous occasions when such trait can be significantly employed, such as when an employee or manager wants to describe leadership proficiency, constancy, and other benefits that are useful from the kind of appraisal (Notteboom et al., 2020). On the contrary, a result-centered performance system is utilized to determine workers’ productivity in a company. For instance, if the staff responds to the telephone call appropriately and if they are confirming the client’s information as necessitated by the administration.
The best appraisal system for Maersk Consumer Care Service to employ in Care Business Partner is the trait based appraisal system. However, the system demands that the personnel inhibits specific traits. The behavior qualities that the worker requires will aid with all sections of the department’s cohesion, thus creating a boundless working association and enhancing organization ethics (Notteboom et al., 2020). The aspects will help HR in realizing Maersk’s strategic design and surpassing prospects.
Rating scales are utilized in performance managing systems through the company to evaluate a worker’s level of productivity. Behavioral fixed evaluation measures appraise particular behaviors that symbolize intensities of performance and are employed to HR as to what different social scopes an operative possesses. Subsequently, there are levels of productivity management measurements, which are commonly used in assessment scale. The five level productivity management scales offer improved opportunity to distinguish between personnel by presenting two levels, two significant performance points (Notteboom et al., 2020). These levels comprise satisfactory and less than satisfactory levels, they further moderate tenancies of outcomes or concentrate on the core.
Compensation
The compensation philosophy at Maersk is a collection of guidelines concerning the benefits of their workforce. The company started as a family-based business and transformed into a publicly traded institution presenting various compensation strategies. It will give the staff and other companies a view of how a corporation feels about vacations, wellbeing, sick leaves, and commitment to relations (Notteboom et al., 2020). The compensation approach should encompass direct and indirect benefits, which are rewards that staffs desire from their organization. Direct compensation is the sum of salary the enterprise is willing to pay an individual for completing a task and includes overtime, shift differentials, long and short-term windfalls.
The value of remuneration examinations is beneficial depending on the number of organizations analyzed and the situations that they are measured. Therefore, if an expert is assessing an investigation, they should understand if the employment position they are seeking is the one that got reviewed. The approach gives the employer statistics on wage variations for specific job kinds and other nations’ areas to gauge where they currently stand compared to other players in the business industry (Notteboom et al., 2020). Surveys are beneficial to human resource divisions, especially when pursuing new talents or retaining existing employees. It further helps in ensuring that workers are not under or overpaid.
The merits of discretionary benefits to Maersk are that research has indicated that the workforce prefers to select their compensation packages and can be the influencing factor when choosing between numerous employment opportunities. Discretionary benefits can display how an organization feels about its personnel with distinct advantages. Maersk views discretionary rewards as a technique for building a solid base with its workforce.
Considering that the corporation developed from a family-owned firm and transformed into a publicly traded business, they have strived to maintain the family atmosphere’s culture regarding discretionary reward packages (Notteboom et al., 2020). Moreover, their bundles are modified and have various compensations that entice staff to work for them, thus retaining its employees. The company flourishes on presenting additional packages in their employee benefits, which may be the standard rewards for other firms.
Conclusion
Human resource practices play a significant role in the success and productivity of the steadily changing and turbulent global shipping industry. The organizational strategy and culture of Maersk Company have influenced the company’s increased market share in the international market and improved employee retention. Therefore, the strategy should not be viewed as an ineffective concept but should be assessed further by business experts to understand its contributions and limitations in the growth of businesses.
References
Hasan, M. (2020). Induction of Human Resource Management.
Morton, T. (2020). The Company Man Programme. IADC/SPE International Drilling Conference and Exhibition, 45-56. Web.
Notteboom, T., Satta, G., & Parola, F. (2020). Brand strategies of container shipping lines following mergers and acquisitions: Carriers’ visual identity options. Maritime Economics & Logistics, 1–32. Web.