Workforce Motivation Through HRM

Introduction

Human Resource Management, or HRM for short, is one of the most important factors in running a prosperous business, though it is not always treated with the time and focus that it deserves. To fully understand what HRM is and its impact on the success or failure of a business, we first need to know what it means.

The purpose of Human Resource Management is to recruit, develop and use the personnel within an organisation in the manner in which is most suitable to accomplishing the aims and objectives of the organisation.

This basically translates to “using individuals in the company in the best way possible” though that would be an over-simplified assertion that does not echo the real nature and range of HRM. HRM describes all of the strategies and procedures that are involved in ensuring that all members of staff in a company are pulling in the same direction, and more importantly, in the right direction. Without good human resource management a company will be expending energy on jobs that it may not directly benefit from.

At its center, HRM combines three major elements that are fundamental to the productive output of the workforce. These factors include motivation, management and leadership, and organisational structures. Consequently, HRM can be employed on all levels of management within your organisation, not just the shop floor personnel, and it may even be used to modify the framework of those levels of management as well.

Why is it Necessary?

Quite simply, businesses don’t run without workers. As a result, some level of human resource management is required for any business to operate at all, let alone in an effective and profitable manner. Even if you don’t realise exactly how HRM affects the day-to-day running of your business you will certainly be using some sort of HRM in order to keep trading.

Human Resource Management has an impact on every level of your business activities with varying degrees of visibility. The most apparent HRM tasks involve the hiring and firing of staff as well as monetary systems such as payroll. It may also impact on motivation and communication inside your company, which are much more intangible variables but are important nonetheless.

It also goes without saying that each organisation is different and will have a different set of issues to face and opportunities to take advantage of. HRM can work as a versatile tool that translates workforce power into financial profits and can adjust to fully utilise the strengths of your firm. Without it, your rivals may be afforded the chance to prosper where you missed out.

Organisations that are developed to provide for organisation formats such as shelf companies should have a well-trained workforce in place.

Impact on Business

Whilst this all sounds very interesting and important, how does it actually impact on the daily functions of your company, and more importantly, how will it help to boost the performance and profitability of your firm? The effect of HRM can be broken down into the following areas.

Recruitment & Training

This is probably the part of a company that is most associated with human resources – recruitment. Almost every business in the world, and particularly businesses that are growing, must recruit people to work for them. Either existing employees have left, or new possibilities have arisen which mean there are roles that need to be filled. HRM can ensure your recruitment process gets the appropriate people into the right jobs at a cost-effective price.

It’s also important to keep your staff training procedures up-to-date to make certain that your workforce is fully capable of doing the job they are there to do. Regardless of whether it is a new piece of legislation or a new bit of technology that changes the market, there is an on-going requirement to keep your business up-to-date and ready to take advantage of any opportunity. There is a phrase that states that “if you are not moving forward you are going backwards” which can be applied to business.

You may also find that the expensive practice of external recruitment can be averted if your company has adequate training facilities in place. It is far easier to train an existing worker to a higher level and then use outside recruitment to fill the gap remaining at the lower level than it is to recruit straight to a higher level.

Employee Relations

When you have the suitable men and women working for you it is necessary to keep them doing work for you, and to make sure they are doing a good job. This can be accomplished through good employee relations. The most evident employee relations exercise is the art of motivation – a broad topic by itself – but other worker relations issues can include disciplinary and grievance management.

Finances

You cannot keep employees at your organisation by good motivational techniques only. They’ll want to be paid a fair amount and on time. Payroll ought to be one of the first systems that is developed when you launch a company, but they still need to be maintained and updated when staff join, leave or change pay grade. Poor management of your payroll system can rapidly lead to disaster in terms of your workforce.

Industrial Relations

Numerous companies will have to deal with trade union or other workers rights establishments which can be very forceful when defending the interests of their own members. When interacting with such bodies it is advantageous to have individuals within your organisation who can communicate comfortably with them whilst keeping the interests of your own company in mind as well.

One of the simplest ways to identify that international business companies have good employee relations is to ask current staff if they are satisfied in their work.

Workforce Planning

We have seen the effect that human resource management may have on a company and overall it seems like good HRM will have a positive effect on any company. As a rule, this is the case, but good HRM doesn’t just occur overnight. It should be designed according to the goals of the company and then performed thoroughly.

One way to apply HRM concepts to your company is via workforce planning – a system that has the aim of making sure your workforce can complete the upcoming tasks required for your business to be successful. It can be defined as:

Definition

Workforce planning is the method of anticipating ahead of time the human resource requirements of any enterprise, both in terms of the quantity of employees required and the proper skill mix. Recruitment and training policies are devised with a long term focus in order to ensure that the organisation is able to operate without being limited by a shortage of appropriate labour. It is a bit of a balancing act, but when done correctly can bring about many benefits.Workforce planning can be broken down into four main areas; requirements, recruitment, selection, and training and development.

Requirements

Evaluating your workforce requirements is vital to the proper planning of your staff in the short-term and long-term future. If your company is subject to seasonal changes in demand, for example in the tourism industry, or is prone to seasonal fluctuations in workforce then your workforce planning has to take these factors into consideration.

Recruitment

Whether you are recruiting externally or from within your existing workforce you still want to find the right individual to fill the role. As part of your workforce planning you ought to draw up a job description that details the job that will be undertaken as well as a person specification which will give an indication of the type of person that would be a perfect fit for the job and your business.

Selection

The selection procedure can be as involved or as simple as you deem necessary. Outside of regular job selection interviews there are a number of ways you can learn about about candidates for your jobs, including aptitude tests, group interviews and even psychometric testing.

Training & Development

The main goal of staff training and development is to develop a much better standard of worker in your organisation. Workforce planning can use training to plug upcoming gaps in the skill set of your workforce which is commonly quicker and more economical than external recruitment. Training and development may also go some way toward motivating your employees.

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Workforce Motivation

It practically goes without saying that properly motivated workers are going to produce a better standard of output and have a greater quantity of output than unhappy workers. This improved working rate will undoubtedly lead to an increase in the profitability of a business. Yet motivation is still a bit of taboo subject amongst some managers.

Essentially, all motivational practices can be separated into two sets that are often referred to as the “carrot and stick” approach to motivation. The analogy refers to the two approaches to make a donkey carry your belongings, either by tempting it with a carrot, or threatening it with a strike from a stick! It is a relatively old idea but the principle is still relevant to companies today.

Whether you use the carrot strategy or the stick strategy will largely depend on your own management approach, as well as the industry you work in and the type of individuals that you hire. Irrespective of your method, motivational factors can be broken down into a further two groups; financial and non-financial motivators.

Financial

The most common financial motivators are payment plans. You can pay workers in a number of different ways, either a fixed amount for a set service, by an hourly or daily fee, or a rate related to production, such as a commission scheme.

Another financial motivation method involves what are known as incentive schemes, where additional financial rewards are handed out for good performance. This may include commission above a fixed salary, performance-related pay grades or even providing a share of company profits. Again, the motivating aspect here is the money alone.

Non-financial

Many human resource theorists have their own thoughts about the different elements that motivate people to do the job, although these are often seen as an added bonus to a worker. It is broadly acknowledged that income is the critical motivational factor for the great majority of people. If you would like to learn more about these theories I would recommend looking up the work of Elton Mayo, Abraham Maslow and Fredrick Herzberg.

The Changing Face of HRM

As previously stated, HRM is a versatile tool that is there to match the features of your staff to the objectives of your business. As a result, it has had to keep changing to a corporate climate that is constantly changing for one reason or another. Furthermore, it is a good idea to continuously review your own HRM policies and not to rest on your laurels.

Maybe there is a new piece of government law that will have an impact of how your company can carry out its operations, or maybe a new manufacturing technology will come along that can revolutionise your sector. Either way, if you want to make sure that your workforce is performing to its maximum level then your HRM system should be flexible enough to cope with an ever-changing economy.