Systematic Approach To Decision Making

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Strategic human resource management means formulating and executing human resource systems –human resource policies and activities that produce the employee competencies and behaviours the company needs to achieve its strategic aims.

Human resource management:-

Human resource is the backbone of the every organization. Labour capital, and land etc.are resources effectively used in organization. Every organization makes a strategy for human resource management, how and what’s the proper utilization of resources to get maximum level of profits. If resources does not used properly, organization will not gain profit and never stand in the market. Human resources management has become more important to general management, its provide competitive advantage and an awareness of the demands of the technologically advanced environment of the future.

Human resource management is the function of management concerned with finding the right people to fill those jobs-staffing the organization. The most important resource an organization can have is its workforce, the quality of the work the staffing function performs is vital to organization success. Finding the right people, the human resource management function includes training them in the culture of the organization as well as in specific job skills, developing employees to get them ready for promotion and evaluating their performance.

Personal management:-

Organizational Structure

Every organization need some form of organizational structure for effective working. Every organization has different structure. Every organization have different department responsible for effective work. Every organization marketing department which is responsible for market planning and market research. For customer requirements there will be a customer service department in every organization and for the selection of new employees and for recruitment there will be human resource department in every organization. In addition there will be a information technology department in every organization to support their online services and sales. Organizations are structured in different ways like

1 By function

2 By regional area

3 By product

4 By work teams

Employee effectiveness

Employees make a major contribution towards the achievements and goals of an organization. Involvement of employees in the decisions of an organization is not its goal but it is important to manage employees so as to make sure that they contribute in an expected manner. There are various ways that help in improvement of employee’s contribution in decision making like suggestion systems, continuous meetings, discussions and events and taking corrective action when required. The most significant method to do this is to recognize the efforts of the employees and reward them for those efforts, this motivates them to work hard as he is being praised and recognized for his work.

It is impossible that each and every employee of an organization takes part in all the decisions. A change is required in the organization to try and improve employee’s contribution. Change management is a key to increase employee’s involvement in decision making. This process involves a few steps –

Create such a plan which leads in involvement of maximum people.

In change management, only a small number of employees have access to important information about change. If only these people make plans of change management, the other employees won’t get the time to think about and adopt new ideas.

Although it is no possible to involve employees in the change decision of an organization, but they can be involved in the meaningful decisions regarding their work.

Measurement systems should be brought in the organization which helps the employees to know about their work. Employees should be recognized and rewarded for their extra ordinary work. Organisational Behaviour

Decision Making

Decision making in organisation behaviour is very vital and it is one of the most important function for any organisation. Decision making is a process of choosing alternative course of action from different alternatives available and it should be kept in mind that the decision made should be effective and efficient for the organisation. According to the Herbert A.simon decision making involve three steps which are mentioned below.

Identifying the problem- This step includes the identification of the problem that the organisation is facing

Identify and examine the different alternatives available to solve the problem.

At last when the problem is identified and the various options are available then the organisation decides which alternative to choose and that alternative should be effective for the organisation.

Decision environment includes 3 most important things that are as follows:

Certain environment

Risk environment

Uncertain environment

Certain environment:

Certain environment occurs when the complete information is present while implementing the alternative to solve the problem and in other words it can be said that in this environment problem is solved and decision is made.

Risk environment

In this environment the decision maker is not sure about the result of choosing the alternative and he has not left with complete information that can help in supporting the decision maker to take decision. In this the decision maker makes the perception that what will be the result of the alternative if implemented.

Uncertainty environment

Uncertain environment exist when there is very less information available to the decision maker that what will be the impact of the decision taken and he will be confused to go with the alternative or not.

Systematic Approach to decision making:

Systematic approach in decision making helps the organisation to take good decisions to help the organisation in solving the problems.

Creation of useful environment for decision making- while creating the environment different factors should be considered:

One should know that what he or she wants to achieve.

Should know that how the decision will be taken in the end.

Involvement of the people that are keen to provide solution for the problem organisation should include the people who are qualified and can take the effective decisions for the organisation.

It is very important that everyone should get the chance to involve in decision making process so that the employees will be highly motivated and feel like hold importance for the organisation.

Next important thing that should be considered is to bring out different ideas from mind that can help in making the decision. Because if more and more ideas are available then the organisation will have more choices while making the decisions.

Analyse the different course of alternatives present it includes the amount of risk involved in selecting the specific action and what will its implications and will it have positive or negative effect.

Now choose the best alternative among the different alternatives available. After complete analysis of the different alternatives the decision maker will select the most effective alternative that will provide the solution for the problem

Cross checking the decision taken after the decision is made now it is important to cross check that the decision made is worth or not and is it working properly or not or if its needs any amendments.

At last when everything is done now the decision should be communicated to the people who are affected by it and to each and every member who is associated with the implementation of the decision. And provide the complete details about it so that they agree upon the decision taken and appreciate it.

To achieve a desire set of goal by a group of people when they work together is called an organization and actions and attitudes of people in organization are called organizational behaviour.

In this report we discuss about organizational behaviour and importance of different forms of organizational behaviour in organizational effectiveness and efficiency. Topics which are covered in this report are culture, motivation, creativity and leadership. In this report we will discuss about different forms which are used in organizational behaviour and we will also study the people which are working in any organization. We will study people at work both as individuals and within work groups and how they impacted by an organization and how an organization impacted by them where they work.

Organizational Behaviour

Knowledge which derived from these actions and attitudes is covered by organizational behaviour. Managers can understand if there is any complexity occurs in organization with the help of organizational behaviour. It also helps the managers to identify the problems and determine best way to solve the problem and establish whether the changes would make a significant difference. We can study behaviour of human in organization settings by organizational behaviour, how organization interacts with itself and how behaviour of human interacts with organization. We can focus on these three areas independently. We must keep in mind that these three are connected with each other and to understand the concept of organizational behaviour these three are necessary. Now we will discuss about effective leadership, organizational structure and culture and organizational decision making.

Environment analysis is important because it helps in developing sustainable competitive advantages, identifies opportunities and threats and provides opportunities for productive co-operation with other organizations. A PESTEL analysis is merely a framework that categories environmental influence as political, economic social, technological, environmental and legal forces.

Political forces:-they are a major influence affecting government decisions. It includes taxation policy, environment legislation, health and safety regulations government stability etc. the ability of the organization to adopt or follow on the different governmental initiatives that might affect the performance of the entire firm. The policies established by the government might divert the local priorities of the companies. The government contributes in forecasting the success of downfall of the Primark.

Economic forces:-economic forces affect how easy or how difficult it is to be successful and profitable at any time because they affect both capital availability and cost and demand. If demands is buoyant, for example and the cost of capital is low is low, it will be attractive for companies to invest and grow with expectations of being profitable. Primark is also recognized as one of the strong business that can contribute a lot in the country’s Gross Domestic Product or GDP. To make the organization able to stand in different economic changes, there should be a strong monetary fund that holds in the effects of recession as much in low exchange rates made by the import and export operations.

Social forces:-Sociocultural environment encapsulates demand and tastes, which vary with fashion and disposable income and general changes can again provide both opportunities and threats for particular companies. The social changes is a strong force for the organization to conduct further research, develop their processes, and craft another product that will earn the trust of the market.

Technological forces: - technology in one respect is part of the organization and the company part of the model as it is used for the creation of competitive advantage. Technology external to the company can also be captured and used and this again can influence by government support and encouragement. Through the inventions of different high definition cameras and advanced software, the Primark’s leaders can have the sense of security.

Environment forces: - for any organization certain environmental influences will constitute powerful forces which affect decision-making significantly. Environment typically correlates in the action of the business’s usage of resource or how the wastes are dispatched. Policies are created to protect the environment such as limiting the use of the resources to avoid exploitations which is a big dilemma for the business especially when there are number of competitors.

Legal forces: - In terms of legal analysis, there are other issues that the organizations should answer. Most of the revolving issues are the overuse of the labour and maximizing their strength to produce more products which is definitely against the law. Another is on the issue of the consumer protection. Since the business is committed to produce and deliver the demands of the customers, the business should give importance to their rights as buyers. In the legal terms, it emphasizes the importance of the employee-employer relationship, supplier-producer relationship, and the customer-organizations relationship.

Every organization provided different strategies to be effective in the market. However, most of the successful organizations admired the importance of analysis in creating their approach to strategies. In an organization that target huge market and have an efficiency in bringing the demands of the market, Primark is still realizing and in-depth analysis that can help them provide long-run benefits.

Examine how the approaches of personnel management, human resource management and strategic human resource management would help the company to implement change and overcome resistance to change.

organizations and managers face change on a continuous basis, in volatile environments. Some changes are reactions to external threats, others are proactive attempts to seize opportunities and manage environment. AEGON should seek to obtain and maintain congruence between their environment, values and resources, making changes when there are pressures from either the environment or their resources.

"Remember it is not always the man on the shop floor who opposes change. It can be the second or third tier of management who are the most reactionary."(Sir Peter Gibing, ex-chairman, Anglia television)

No positive changes will occur within a company unless the chief executive realizes that people are basically opposed to change. A climate for change must be created in people’s minds.

Resistance to change is functional when not carried to limits. In other words, the energy we put into resisting change also permits us to preserve balance in our lives by relegating habitual responses to the unconscious. Change occurs for many reasons such as new staff roles; increases or decreases in funding; acquisition of new technology; new missions, vision or goals; and to reach new members or clients. Changes can create new opportunities, but are often met with criticism from resistant individuals within the group.

Resistance to change:-

There are several reasons why change pressures might be resisted and certain circumstances where the implementation of change will have to be planned carefully and the needs of people considered.

Some resistance can be expected where people have worked out ways of doing things which are beneficial to them in terms of their objectives and preferences.

Resistance to sideways change is likely unless the people affected are fully aware of the reasons and implications.

It is not unusual for people to have some fear of the unknown and to feel comfortable with situations, policies and procedures that they know.

Resistance is likely to be forthcoming where there are perceived flaws or weaknesses in the proposal. Change decisions may be made by the strategic leader and then delegated for implementation.

The opposition may be to the change itself, or to the proposed means of implementation. Both can and must be overcome if changes are to be implemented successfully.

Ways of overcoming resistance to change:-

Education and communication:-education and communication should help people to understand the logic and the need for change.

Participation and involvement:-the contention is that people will be more supportive of the changes if they are involved in the formulation and design.

Facilitation and support: - this can involve either training or counselling but there is no guarantee that any resistance will be overcome.

Negotiation and agreement: - negotiation and agreement are normally linked to incentives and rewards. Where the resistance stems from a perceived loss as a result of the proposed change, this can be useful where the resisting force is powerful.

Manipulation and co-optation:- this encompasses covert attempts to influence people, for example by the selective use of information and conscious structuring of events.

Explicit and implicit coercion; - the use of threats can work in the short run but is unlikely to result in long –term commitment.

The industry has also been characterized by intense competition. AEGON is in competition with organizations which sell directly to consumers and which are better known in the UK. AEGON distributes its products and services to customers mainly through financial advisers. AEGON, as a reputable company, has had to address and overcome these industry-wide problems to remain competitive.

Evaluate the company’s human resource planning and recruitment and selection processes, to see if/how they could be enhanced and how capable they currently are to cope with the planned expansion.

Recruitment and selection process:-

Recruitment and selection as a systematic process applied to meeting an organization’s staffing requirement s through filling identified vacancies. This process can be broken down into a series of stages which Wright and storey (1997:212) summaries as ‘defining the vacancy, attracting applicants, assessing candidates and making the final decision.’

The employers are involved in a decision making process and the way the process is conducted may have a significant impact on employer attractiveness and employee retention. Recruitment is described as a positive attraction process designed to assemble a suitable pool of applicants against a given job vacancy.

Positively correlated with effective job performance, searching for people with those attributes and persuading such people to apply for the vacancy. In contrast selection can be seen as a negative process of rejection that involves narrowing down the field of candidates until a suitable match against a given vacancy is. (Whitehill, 1991, cited in Wright and storey, 1997:212).

The success relies on the quality of its employees, such as its store managers and its sales staff. To attract the right applicants the Phillip Green’s company must have an effective recruitment process.

Recruitment:-Recruitment is the process of generating a pool of capable people to apply to an organization for employment. In this definition two main point is highlight: 1there is a need to generate people‘s interest in applying for employment-they need to be attracted to an organization. This implies that people do have a choice about which organizations they wish to work for.2people may be capable of fulfilling a role in employment, but the extent to which this will be realized is not totally predictable. Recruitment occurs both at store level and centrally. Philip Green’s company head office is using specially designed management development programmes to target two groups: school leavers and newly qualified graduates. Company is looking to recruit the next generation of students who are passionate about a career in retailing and able to become future leaders in the business. They do activities to attract applications the company. These activities include attend career fairs and presentation, produce advertisement and posters, uses in-store communications, advertises on the company website.

REASONS TO RECRUIT:-show in diagram

When recruiting new employees company looks for specific abilities. These are called competencies.

Woodruffe (1992, p.17) has defined Competency as ‘the set of behavior patterns that the incumbent needs to bring to a position in order to perform its tasks and functions with competence’. In this include self control, self –development, personal organization, positive approach, leading etc.

Each competency is defined and described by a range of indicators that enables assessment and measurement. The competency of ‘creating customer service ‘is, for example indicated by:

Anticipating emerging customer needs and planning accordingly

Identifying the customers who will be of value to the company

Recommending changes to current ways of working that will improve customer service

Arranging the collection of customer satisfaction data and acting on them

There are two main ways of developing a recruitment strategy, these are internal and external recruitment:-

Internal recruitment:-this tends to more easily introduced in strongly unionized firms .or where job mobility is low. It has certain advantages:-

1-good for employee morale:-by promoting from ‘within’, the company is clearly demonstrating a policy of rewarding current employees. This should encourage hard work, as individuals feel more highly valued.

2-use of manpower;-the efficient use of company’s manpower trough a policy of job enlargement and job rotation means that skills ,knowledge and aptitude can be fully utilized.

3-costs:-by promoting from an already recruited work force the company avoids the costs of advertising and selection.

4-accuracy:-it may be possible to recruit from a better level of knowledge regarding individual’s abilities.

5-labour turnover:-this may be reduced if personnel perceive they have opportunities for promotion within the organization.

Disadvantages;-

1-no ‘new blood’ there is an absence of new people and new ideas. This may stifle initiative, reduce flexibility and increase resistance to innovation and change.

2-cost:-whatever the previous experience of the internal appointee they may require costly training.

3-bad feelings;-there is a danger of creating jealousies, rivalries and cliques among staff competing for too few promotional opportunities.

External recruitment in the fast changing world of modern business it is quite common for a ‘new post’ to be created. The current employees do not possess the necessary skills to recruit for the post.

A specialist agency provides higher grade and more specific personnel. They often prepare job descriptions, interviews, test and decide on rank order, before sending applicants.

Advantages:-

1-higer number of candidates

2-candidates may have new ideas

3-potentail for new skills to be brought into the organization

Disadvantages:-

1-takes longer

2-people appointed may not be as good as they appear

3-more expensive to advertises

Selection: selection is the process by which managers and others use specific instruments to choose from a pool of applicants the person or persons most likely to succeed in the jobs, given management goals and legal requirements. An organization set the criteria in the form of competencies composed of behavioural characteristics and attitudes which are measure and assess applicants. Selection involves a number of costs:

The cost of the selection itself ,including the use of various selection instruments

The future costs of inducting and training new staff

The cost of labour turnover if the selected staff are not retained

According to wilk and cappelli (2003, p.117), ‘it is not simply a case of more is better’. Selection methods will depend on the characteristics of the work and the level of pay and training.

Recent years have indicated that a structure and the use of behavioral a based on competencies increase the effectiveness of interviews in selection. The use of competencies in selection is a reflection selection may be combined in assessment centers to provide a fuller picture of an applicant’s strengths and weaknesses. Online testing allows organizations to process applicants more quickly .this may also filter out good applicants as well as unsuitable applicacants.

Selection technique seeks to measure differences between applicants and provide a prediction of future performance at work. Techniques are chosen on the basis of their consistency in measurement over time –reliability-and the extent to which they measure what they are supposed to measure- validity. An applicant’s experience of selection methods strongly influences his or her feelings towards the organization.

A valid selection procedure will provide high scores that correspond to sub sequent high job performance.

Application form:-the application form is used to collect information about the applicant’s education, previous job experience and other background characteristics. Research in the life insurance industry shows that biographical information inventories can validly predict future job success. [P.W.Thayer, 1977, p.513-524]

Interview:-the interview serves as a two-way communication channel that allows both the organization and the applicant to collect information that would otherwise be difficult to obtain. This selection of technique is used in almost every job category in nearly every organization. The interview is not generally a valid predictor of job performance.

Employment test:-employment test may include intelligence tests, aptitude and ability tests and personality inventories, particularly those shown to be valid predictors. Many companies today particularly interested in personality inventories that measure such characteristics s openness to learning, initiative, responsibility, creativity and emotional stability.

Assessment center:-first developed by psychologists at AT&T, assessment centers are used to select individuals with high potential for managerial careers by such organizations as IBM, General Electric and JCPenney.[W.C.Byham,1970, p.150-167].assessment centers present a series of managerial situations to groups of applicants over, say, a two-or –three-day period. Assessment center is technique for selecting individuals with high managerial potential based on their performance on a series of simulated managerial tasks.

Recruitment and selection legislation:-

Recruitment and selection are governed by equal opportunity legislation. Legislation changing all the time ,so keep up to date with what is happening in this area by reading newspapers or journals and watching quality new programmes on television.

Sex discrimination Acts 1975 and 1986;-these acts ensure that men and women are treated equally.

Race relations act 1976:-this act makes it unlawful for anyone to be discriminated against on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethic origin or national origin. Employees must be protected from discrimation.

Equal pay act 1970;-this acts requires employers to pay men and women equally. This includes all aspects of pay including benefits, childcare allowances, sickness benefits and car allowances.

Rehabilitation of offenders acts 1974;-this act is designed to allow some criminal convictions to be considered ‘spent’ after a certain amount of time. This means that after that time, the convictions are ignored and ex-offender does not have to mention them when applying for a job.

Disability discrimination act 1995;-this act makes it unlawful for a disabled person to be treated less favorably because he or she is disabled, unless there are very good reasons.

Working time regulations 1998:-this directive introduced the idea of a maximum average working week of 48 hours to be measured over a period of 17 weeks, 26 weeks or 52 weeks according to workforce agreement.

Employment act 2002:-the employment act 2002 covers a number of areas within employment law included:-the right to 26 weeks paid maternity leave and 26 weeks unpaid leave. The right for members of trade unions to take paid time off to attend meetings and training etc.

All of these acts together give UK and EU legislative protection to individuals throughout the and selection process. They are regularly updated and aim to ensure fairness in the world of work.

Training: - training and development represent a planned effort by an organization to facilitate employees’ learning of job-related skills and behaviors. Bernard keys and Joseph Wolfe (1988, p.205-229).Recruiting the right people does not guarantee to perform well. Training is initiated to prepare the individual and the work force. It main purpose is to increase the general efficiency of those who have undergone the training process and should promote: greater job satisfaction reduced labour turnover, lee absenteeism and sickness, better adherence to practical and financial objectives. Company trained the employees for these reasons:-

To prepare employees for their jobs and the place where they fit into the organization

To prepare more established members of the company for new tasks and techniques

To help resolve ‘gaps’ that analyses has suggested exist in the ‘skills bank’ possessed by either individuals or the total employee force.

To enable manpower to adapt more easily to innovation and change.

To promote, transfer or upgrade individuals or groups of workers.

Not all companies can afford specially designed training programmes .some still train within the working environment, using skilled operators or supervisors as the trainers.

On –the –job training: on-the-job training is often called ‘setting next to Nellie’. The features of this training are:-

1-there is very little clear distinction made between work and training. The trainee is expected to both work and train simultaneously.

2-everything used by the trainee is ‘real’, i.e. they learn in real work situation.

3-The trainer is an experienced worker, who trains by showing how something is done. This is usually done in a practical and immediate way.

Advantages and disadvantages of this training:

advantages

Disadvantages

By being at the place of work it is realistic and not divorced from the working environment.

The trainer may be a poor teacher, who shows little real interest in transferring knowledge.

It is direct.

Poor quality work or inadequate machinery may mean that the trainee learns bad habits.

Hopefully, a ‘one-to-one’ relationship builds up between trainer and trainee, so helping both learning and motivation.

There is danger that those who have worked for the company for some time will pass on their attitudes and opinions to the trainee.

It is less costly than other forms of more formal training as it takes place alongside work.

Not all of trainee will be desirable.

Much of the training at Philip Green Company is one-the-job and occurs within the stores. Off-the –job training is used for general management skills. The training at the company is linked closely to developing the competencies that the company looks for in its recruits. These competencies are enterprise related.

The training on the Retail management trainee programme includes:

Induction training to learn about retailing and store operations

Workshops that focus on core skills, the include team motivation and planning

Learning about specific areas of responsibility, such as managing a store team

Visiting stores on placements to learn about how they operate.

Recruitment and selection describes the process that organizations follow to attract applications from people who want to work for them, and then to choose the best person for the job. Successful recruits must also produce a personal development plan. This helps them prepare for their future management position. Increasingly recruitment and selection processes need to be responsive to a changing and uncertain environment. Increased competition, the internationalization of business and demographic shifts are example of macro level change leading to micro level strategic responses such as restructuring, downsizing, de-layering, HRM, the flexible firm, mergers and culture change programmes. All of these place demands on the type of people required to staff an organization with the presumption that their recruitment will facilitate the achievement of the organizational objectives.

An investigation into the contribution that human resource development and knowledge management could make to enhancing individual and organisational performance and help alleviate the issues highlighted above.

The knowledge management plays a key role in resources based models of ABC Company. For Hamel and Prahalad (1994), building a focus on knowledge management is much more important than historical focus of westerns firms on product management.

Performance analysis is the process of verifying that there is a performance deficiency and determining if such deficiency should be corrected through training or through some other means. Performance appraisal is another important technique for developing an effective workforce. Performance appraisal comprises the steps of observing and assessing employee performance, recording the assessment and providing feedback to the employee. During performance appraisal, skillful managers give feedback and praise concerning the acceptable elements of the employee’s performance.

• A recommended performance and reward strategy, which would contribute to the overall performance of employees and help reduce the high level of turnover within the company.

Rewards:-

Rewards refer to all the monetary, non monetary and psychological payments that an organization provides for its employees in exchange for the work they perform. A reward system is a key mechanism that can influence each step of the strategy process. Human resource managers retain employees with wage and salary systems, benefits packages and termination procedures.

Arrange work in a way that allows the individual employee to influence his or her own working situation, work methods and pace.

Where possible , combine interdependent tasks in to job.

Aim of group tasks into a meaningful job that allows for an overview and understanding of the work process as a whole. Employees should be able to perceive the the end product or service as contributing to some part of the organization’s objectives.

Provide a sufficient variety of tasks within job and include tasks that offer some degree of employee responsibility and make use of the skills and knowledge valued by the individuals.

Arrange work in a way that makes it possible for the individual employee to satisfy time claims from roles and obligations outside work.

Provide opportunities for an employee to achieve outcomes that he or she perceives as desirable.

Ensure that employees get feedback on their performance, ideally from the task as well as from the supervisor. Provide internal and external customer feedback directly to employees.

Provide employees with the information they need to make decisions.

• Suggestions on initiatives that will help to develop a harmonious and trusting employment relationship within the existing and ‘new’ expanding company.

Improvement in knowledge enhance ability while empowerment and information enhance the opportunitity to contribute. Rewards are direct attempt to enhance motivation, which may also be imporved through empowerment , information and knowledge.

Training employee development

Remuneration and other rewards

Performance appraisal

Staffing process: job analysis

Recruitment and selection

Induction

Discipline and dismissal

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We bring relationship analysis into the diagram. In other words, we aim to look at the employment relationship from both perspectives: the employers and the employee’s. A relationanship will only last if it works at some baseline, for both parties. Term such as ‘balance,’ ‘mutuality’, resiprocity’, equity and matching of interesrs will recur throughout bescasue stable employment relationships are those in which both parties feel relatively satisfied. At any point in time, a person’s ability their capacity to perform reflects the knowledge and skills they have acquired through education, on the one hand and through their experience of work and real life on the other . both education and experience therefore have a vital role to play in building our abilities.for an employee. For an employee this means that the rewards such as the wage level, the intrinsic enjoyment and the social standind of job exceed the mental, physical and emotional effort that the work implies and are worthwhile in the light of alternative job offers.

Human resource management usefully be understood as a set of activities aimed at building individual and workforce performance. Om the level of individual performance HRM consists of managerial attempts to influence individual ability , motivation and the opportunitity to perform.