HRM: An essential element of business

Human resource management is an essential element of every business. Employee relation is a very vast and complex topic. There have been numerous theories that have been developed in regards to employee relation. These theories have been a part of our daily lives and it is seen that even though people tend to be following the processes it is quite rare that the focus falls on the theories themselves. As explained by Adam and Meitz (1993): ‘By choosing a theory one organises reality’. There has been a wide and vast range of theories that have been developed over the years. There are a number of different roles that people tend to undertake within the organisations and each one of the roles are equally important for the success of the business. One of the most important however is that by leaders. Leaders play a crucial role in the organisations including several elements like training and mentoring as well (Adam and Meitz, 1993). Training and mentoring are two essential elements for every business. In the case of new employees to a job, it is seen that there is a need for new training and mentoring to be introduced within the organizations. These training and mentoring is based on the employee profiles and the levels based on which the employees can learn and develop. Hence for every company recruiting newer employees this is a very essential aspect. Mostly in the case of new employees these form the basic understanding of the organization and the job (Beer, Lawrence, Quinn Mills, and Walton, 1985). This paper will discuss two very essential aspects of the business, i.e. the concept of individual differences and the organizational roles and situations. The main aim of the paper is to discuss how people take up their roles in the organizations and how well the group situations are managed within the organization.

Individual Differences:

Murray and Kluckholm have divided the psychology studies of people into three main sections. They explain, ‘Every man is in certain respects (a) like all other men, (b) like some other men, (c) like no other man’. Considering the term Individual differences psychology, the main focus of this theory is based on the second level of study. The study of individual differences psychology is one where the theorist and experts study the differences in the individual behavior. The concept of individual differences is very important as it helps creating an average of the variations in the differences of individuals. This is an essential concept in organizations and employee behavior as with the various personalities of people within the industry, there is also a chance that the expected reactions might not be the same from all employees. Hence when a leader works towards managing a group, it is essential that the leader is able to understand and associate with each employee. This will help the leader understand the most effective form of leadership that can be implemented within the teams and the organization as a whole (Gazendam, 1993).

Motivation is the most important aspect of any organization. It is essential for competitiveness, cost effectiveness that in simpler words is staying alive. Practice what you preach. For effective understanding of the employees and their individual differences, a few underlying principles can be used (Goleman, 2006). These include using: Surveys- Changing behaviour, and hence, attitudes, is difficult unless you can identify as a start point. In all companies there are a number of employees who resist change and are unwilling to accept any change of any kind. Use of Good Practice: Being a manager does not require training for leadership skills, or having a set number of principles for a job or set systems. It is important to understand that theories that have been developed over the years are only meant for references and not to be used as a bible for every move. Policies and Procedures: In every company, or even a group of companies, nothing ever happens unless there’s a simple policy or procedure for making the thing happen. These policies and procedures should be set out and should include, what should happen, who needs to manage it, how it should take place, how it is monitored, etc. need to be encompassed in these policies (Grint, 2001).

Organisational Roles and Situations:

The term Organizational Roles refers to the technical positions that are occupied by both the leaders as well as the employees in an organization and the processes and procedures that occur in the day to day business. Leaders act as change agents within organizations. They motivate as well as build the trust and confidence of the people within the organization. There have been a number of different theories and approaches that have been developed in the past by various authors and experts in the field (Goleman, 2006). Daniel Goleman’s approach consists of six major styles of leadership. In his book Primal Leadership, he has highlighted that good leaders are effective because they create resonance. Based on this he explained resonance can be done in six ways, which in turn lead to the leadership styles. These styles included visionary leadership, coaching leadership, affiliative leadership, democratic leadership, pacesetting leadership and commanding leadership (Goleman, 2006).

Leaders require to be very careful with the decisions they make because every decision they made has an effect on the lives of the employees. Thus Goleman argues that true leaders are a product of the decisions that they take and thus a true leader is one who thinks through all the factors before taking a decision and after considering every possibility. Mintzberg’s argument that the decisions of leaders are diluted by the half truths is a very positive and right argument. Another aspect that needs to be considered in any organization includes the training of employees. Training a group involves a lot more efforts as well as costs than training a single employee. The main similarity of training the employees and a group is that the content always remains the same (Buchanan and Huczynski 2004). However when training an individual, it is possible to help them out on improving the process and finding ways to overcome issues. This cannot be done in the group training (House & Shamir, 1993). Training an individual can be done while working on the job which allows the employees to also get a feel of the systems and ask questions which they would have otherwise been reluctant to ask in a group.

Organisational Behaviour and its Impact:

Being able to take up new roles and styles of management is one of the biggest challenges in an organisation. Management theories are in a number if ways the first and most essential elements of business which every manager will require to know and understand to be able to successfully lead a team. It is essential to realise the importance of these theories for every manager (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). The fair and employment laws that have been implemented by the government have a lot of relevance to the everyday work. It is essential for managers to have a strong knowledge of these laws to ensure that all employees are treated in a fair and ethical manner (Koestenbaum, 2002). One of the best ways to create a supportive environment in the work place is to communicate to the employee and bring out ways and modes to help one another achieve the fair employment within the work place. A communication strategy which involves meeting initially by the manager to discuss the same with the employees, after which the employees can initiate a meeting anytime they feel something within the office is not fair. This is more of an open communication and should be for the entire team rather than just the employee and managers. The impact of the leaders’ performance and behaviour within an organisation has a high impact on the overall performance of the business. Mintzberg has argues that leadership and management required to be aligned to the organizational development. Mintzberg also argued that it is up to the internals of the organization to make the right choice of the leaders rather than externals, who do not have complete knowledge of the organization and its people (Locke, Edwin 1975). Mintzberg has discussed some very important aspects of leadership and has emphasized on important aspects like the half truths. The half truth that has been used by managers in a number of ways is that people are ‘human resources’ (Locke, Edwin, 1975). Mintzberg argues and highlights that it is incorrect to refer to human beings as ‘human resources’. He argues that half truths are dangerous mainly because of the fact that they can affect the actions of the leaders to be not well thought out and planned (Grint, 2001). Also the half truths are not reasonable and require to have been taken as a huge threat to the managers and leaders of organizations. Considering the various examples that he has enlisted in the argument, it is clear that the half truths cause a the leaders to make ineffective decisions and also in some terms can be the underlying factors for the organizations moving into the wrong path and moving towards failure to some extent (MICA, 2004). It is clear that basing the leadership decisions on half truths can be very damaging not only to the company but also to the lives of the employees that are involved. Thus Mintzberg’s argument is very appropriate and it is important to understand and differentiate among the half truths and the other half truths (MICA, 2004).

Effectiveness of Organisational Behaviour:

As has been mentioned earlier, the ability to change the behaviour of a leader based on the employees and the needs of the team. Of all the different leadership modes that are present in various organisations, one which has proved to be very effective and efficient is that of a charismatic leader. In a situation where decisions need to be taken very fast and with accuracy, the most effective leader would be the charismatic leader (House & Shamir, 1993). Charismatic leaders mainly refer to people with an elusive and also an indefinable personality trait which in a number of terms seems unnatural and is considered to be supernatural. These traits have been expressed to be traits like ability to lead, charm, persuade, influence and inspire others (Beer, Lawrence, Quinn Mills and Walton, 1985). According to Weber: charisma is ‘a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which s/he is set apart from ordinary people and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. These are such as are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leader’. He also says, ‘resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him’.

Every leader irrespective of whether a charismatic, authoritative or even a transformational requires to have a team and followers to be able to lead them. Hence it is clear that a leader only leads the way and helps the others to follow him and meet the goals of the organization. In situations where the leaders require having complete support of the followers, the most effective form of leadership again is the charismatic leadership (House & Shamir 1993). A few of the best examples include Fidel Castro, Winston Churchill, Bill Clinton, Mahatma Gandhi, Adolf Hitler, Sathya Sai Baba, Joseph Smith and Werner Erhard. All of these leaders have been able to contribute in their own way to their organizations.

As has been understood from the above discussion, Charismatic leaders are known for their approach to every big and small problem. The actions of the leaders have a cumulative effect on the changes that they tend to bring about in the people. There are several similarities between the charismatic leaders and transformational leaders. The most essential and basic difference is their focus. The transformational leaders focus on transforming the organisation and in some cases the followers as well, while the charismatic leaders prefer to let things remain the same and do not want to change things. In the case of charismatic leaders it is quite easy for the followers to get carried away while talking to the person because of the strong aura that they have. The charismatic leaders are a combination of both ‘people’ as well as ‘organisation oriented’. Hence the charismatic leaders to a great extent are great leaders and provide a lot of results to the organisation as a whole.

 

Conclusions:

As seen from the above discussion, the leaders play a major role in the over organizational behavior and the overall effectiveness of the organizations. The ability to understand the needs of each individual and to work towards providing all employees with the right treatment to be motivated is the main job and role of the leader. As seen in the above discussion the role of human resource management is very high in every company. The success of a company is directly dependent on the performance of the employees and the right choice of employees can take the company a long way and can provide the company with excellent results. For an individual to be a successful leader it is essential that they have a clear vision and aim for the team. The behavior of the managers and leaders has a strong and direct impact on the employee productivity (Koestenbaum, 2002). This is majorly because employees tend to follow their leaders. If a leader needs to be successful it is essential that the leaders have the ability to be open to feedback, ready to accept their flaws and willingness to give in their best to the team. ‘All leaders challenge the process’ (Kouzes, J., & Posner, B., 2002). It is essential that leaders view the status quo and ask themselves why. Only by asking why and challenging the assumptions that instituted the status quo can a leader be effective. Hence to be able to fulfill their role in the organization, it is important that the leaders are aware of their surroundings and are able to work in sync with all the other roles within the organization. This will not only increase the level of team work but will also increase the overall success of the organization as well.