The Importance of Staffing Relations in Organizations

Organizations are groups of people coming together for a certain purpose – whether it is dictated by blood, law, social affiliation, common interests, or whatever reason that brings people together. For this particular research paper, organizations will be described as employment institutions that will require the staffing of personnel. It will focus on the importance of organizational relationships that will help the organization fulfill its goals.

In the employment of organizational staff, their credentials should be thoroughly studied if they are the right fit for the position. Educational and Professional background must serve to be useful to the organization, specifically to the position applied for. Usually, upon passing the interview and initial tests, the new employee is given a probationary status to see if he or she will indeed be able to adapt to the demands of the job. Eventually, how employee fares with his or her superiors and other co-workers and the job itself become more crucial than the credentials he/she initially brings in.

In every employment, employees consciously or unconsciously expect a kind of “psychological contract” apart from the expectations the job usually presents – benefits and compensation for a particular job description. This psychological contract usually includes open and honest communication, managerial support, and challenging and interesting work. Employees are becoming increasingly aware of the non-monetary rewards that companies can provide them. It is generally important that the job not only fulfills their economical needs but their socio-emotional needs as well. “This implies that recruiters need to go beyond a discussion of compensation and benefits and highlight aspects of their organization that job candidates will find intrinsically satisfying.” (Lester, Clair & Kickul, 2001)

Management must be cognizant of and responsive to employees’ perceptions of their psychological contracts with the company. Things such as meaningful work, recognition, creative freedom, and opportunities for personal growth are desired by all employees. Managers must maintain open and honest communication with their employees, bearing in mind their socio-emotional needs and concerns, and being encouraging enough to boost their self-esteem. Lack of communication is ultimately problematic because it suggests to employees that management may be susceptible to perceived psychological contract breaches across a variety of areas because the basic issue of communication is not met.

In line with understanding employees’ needs and concerns, regular training and participation in seminars or enrollment in courses shouldered by the company (whether partial or full) may be perceived as part of the job, but it should be communicated to the employees that although the application of their learnings will highly profit the company, ultimately it will redound to their own benefit. This knowledge from training is bound to increase their market value.

Appreciation of exemplary employee performance is very much desired. It would help if bonuses and merit increases should be given to employees who show evidence of excellence in the performance of their jobs. However, management must keep in mind that for some employees, rewards do not necessarily come in form of money, benefits such as a more flexible work schedule, scholarships for further studies, promotions, work-life balance may be enough to motivate them to maintain their good work.

On their end, employees should prove that they are worthy of being trusted by striving to do their best in the tasks assigned to them and exhibiting loyalty to the organization.

Usually, in a group, the members gravitate towards some kind of leader whom they depend on. It may be as simple as coming up with a group decision or as complex as establishing a group culture. Leadership is a continuous process wherein a leader tries to move from accomplishing one goal to another for the good of the whole group.

A leader’s responsibility to make his/her followers uphold the values the company stands for. When an individual’s allegiance is divided between personal and corporate values, the effective leader will seek to merge the two. Values Leaders focus on attitudes toward goals, relationships with co-workers, and sense of self. A good leader employs his ability to balance a blend of values that will influence people to accomplish organizational goals while meeting their own needs in the process. (Martin, 1998). This involves the establishment of a trust relationship. Differing values create conflict and will impede goal achievement. According to Mishra and Morrissey (1990), the following factors propagate trust: open communication; giving workers a greater share in decision making; sharing of critical information, and true sharing of perceptions and feelings.

A leader is stereotypically known to possess positive qualities and capabilities. However, in the research reported by French, Simpson, and Harvey (2001), a good leader is also equipped with ‘negative capability’. “The underpinning image of leadership is based on knowing and is manifested through activity, work, and achievement. There is, however, a quite another dimension of leadership, based on not knowing, on not doing, on being done-to, and on being no longer in control of one’s own situation.” (French, Simpson & Harvey, 2001). Such a construct may be interpreted as a leader being humble enough to admit when he or she doesn’t really know instead of putting up a façade of being all-knowing.

A good leader is always open to learning something new, and not haughty enough to claim that he is already “made”. Being human and fallible is one trait that all members of the group share, and what better quality to relate to than that? Group members will even feel important enough to share the burden of thinking up solutions to problems with their leader.

Richmond & McCroskey (2005) defines organizational communication as “the process by which individuals stimulate meaning in the minds of other individuals by means of verbal or nonverbal messages in the context of a formal organization.” In the organizational setting, dialogues are used to have a “meeting of minds”, extracting what each member believes and coming up with an agreed decision that takes into account those beliefs, Members think together, analyzing causes and effects, and end up understanding a shared meaning. Usually, they reach greater heights in idea-storming that as individuals, they could not have thought of. This is contrasted with the construct of consensus-building wherein people “seek some rational means to limit options and focus on the ones that are logically acceptable to most people.” (Isaacs, n.d.).

Aside from effective communication among staff and leaders, evaluation of performance is crucial. Not being able to objectively evaluate an organization’s quality in workers’ performance and delivery of service may leave the organization in the dark as to how their clientele responds to it and how the output may further be improved. Evaluation and reflection are an integral part of success in organizations.

According to Osterman (1990), “reflection is the essential part of the learning process because it results in making sense of or extracting meaning from the experience” Reflective practice has both advantages and disadvantages. It can positively affect professional growth and development by leading to greater self-awareness, the development of new knowledge about professional practice, and a broader understanding of the problems that confront practitioners (Osterman 1990). However, it is a time-consuming process and it may involve personal risk because the questioning of practice requires that practitioners be open to an examination of beliefs, values, and feelings about which there may be great sensitivity (Peters 1991; Rose 1992). Should they realize that they do not have what it takes to contribute to the pursuit of excellence of the company, then, they have to re-think if they should move out or stay, with the commitment to being one with the company’s vision.

Of course, the priority should always be the attainment of the organization’s goals and that includes upholding high-quality performance and service.

In conclusion, this paper has discussed the importance of relationships, communication, and evaluation in organizations. The effectiveness of the aforementioned is possible only with the right staff and leaders who possess positive intentions, attitudes, and behavior for the common good of the organization and its members.

References

French, R., Simpson, P. & Harvey, C. (2001), ‘Negative capability’: the key to creative leadership. Presented at the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations 2001 Symposium. 2007. Web.

Isaacs, W.,(n.d.) Taking flight: Dialogue, collective thinking and organizational learning.

Lester, S. Clair, E, Kickul, J. (2001) Psychological Contracts in the 21st Century: What Employees Value Most and How Well Organizations Are Responding to These Expectations. Human Resource Planning. Volume: 24. Issue: 1.

Martin, M. (1998). Trust Leadership. Journal of Leadership Studies. Volume: 5. Issue: 3.

Mishra, J., & Morrissey, M. A. Trust in employee/employer relationships: A survey of West Michigan managers. Public Personnel Management, 19.4, 1990, 443-463.

Osterman, K. F “Reflective Practice: A New Agenda for Education.” EDUCATION AND URBAN SOCIETY 22, no. 2 (1990): 133-152.

Peters, J. (1991)”Strategies for Reflective Practice.” In Professional Development For Educators Of Adults. New Directions For Adult And Continuing Education, no. 51, edited by R. Brockett. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Richmond, V.P. & McCroskey, J.C. (2005) Organizational communication for survival: making work,work. 2007. Web.

Rose, A., (1992) “Framing Our Experience: Research Notes on Reflective Practice.” Adult Learning 3, no. 4: 5.