Business Management

In the contemporary literature, the definitions of personnel management and human

resource management have been regarded as an important confusion and irritation for
the managers to use the concepts at right places. Then human capital has been
regarded as an important strategic resource for organizations to accomplish set goals
and objectives. In the last decades, the human resource management has changed
critically because of liberalization, globalization and competitiveness in the market. This
particular case has been developed to propose solutions to an organization that has
been facing challenges of low employee productivity and high absenteeism.
The term people management is not linked with the executive management of
employees and their jobs rather it is the responsibility of immediate supervisor of an
employee to manage his/her tasks and responsibilities. This implies that people
managers do have line authority with employees to manage their tasks and routine
responsibilities in an effective manner. Traditionally, people management aimed at
simply management of employees at workplace (Venkataratnam, 2004). However, later
developments in literature have transformed people management into a more
sophisticated and systematic term i.e. human resource management. This new term
has been regarded as more appropriate with emphasis on employee performance,
rewards,

team

management

and

commitment

of

employees

(Reddy

2004;

Aswathappa, 2005).
Torrington et al (2008) has noted that people management focuses on traditional
functions such as staffing, administration and change management. They have
specified following objectives of people management:
Staffing: The people management aims at hiring the right people at right jobs and at
the right time. This is simply similar to the recruitment and selection of right staff for
accomplishing organizational objectives. In the current competitive and globalized
world, many organizations have been adopting outsourcing and subcontracting this
function. Staffing function is also linked with the release of employees from
organizations through retirement, resignation, redundancy and dismissal (Reddy, 2004).

Performance: People managers are also required to assist organizations in motivating

employees to make them perform in a better way (Torrington et al, 2008). In this regard,
training and development, performance management and reward systems are designed
by managers for managing performance of employees in an effective manner. Besides
this, disciplinary and grievance processes are also considered by people managers.
Change Management: Personnel managers are also aimed at managing employee
relations, recruitment and development of employees, and employee involvement
strategies (Torrington et al, 2008). When change is implemented within an organization,
personnel managers are required to instill change management skills and effective
reward system for employees.
Administration: Personnel managers are required for managing accurate record of
employee data regarding contracts, recruitment, performance, training, absenteeism,
attendance and conditions of employment (Torrington et al, 2008). It is important to note
that personnel managers are also required for following employment legislations, health
and safety regulations and employment law.
The general managers are involved in directing the first three objectives mentioned
above. On the other hand, the development of effective legislations and legal
compliance issues along with above objectives are considered by the personnel
managers or support staff (Torrington et al, 2008).
Ulrich (1998) has proposed a mandate for human resources that has been effective for
managing human resource in the contemporary era. He suggested that some
researchers asked for abolition of the human resource on the grounds of ambiguities in
its role towards organizational performance (Torrington et al, 2008; Brockbank et al.,
2012). Ulrich (1998) has argued that often human resource is incompetent, ineffective
and costly for organizations. In the current case, the human resource has also been
regarded as ineffective and incompetent to perform in the competent work environment.
For this reason, Ulrich (1998) has proposed solutions for managing human resource in
an effective way rather than following traditional processes. He was of the view that
human resource should not be defined by what it does for the organization rather by

what it delivers to the organization for accomplishing its objectives. For managing
human resource in an effective manner, Ulrich (1998) has proposed following
recommendations: a) human resource should become partner with line and senior
managers for execution of organizational strategy, b) employees should become an
expert for accomplishing work in the way it is organized and executed while delivering
efficiency in such a way that quality is maintained and cost is reduced, c) it should be
regarded as champion for employees to represent their concerns to the senior
management and enhancing contribution of employees so that they remain committed
with the organization and d) HR should serve as agent in organizations for continuous
transformation of culture and processes that enhance organizational capacity for
bringing change. This implies that organization in the given case should also focus
developing effective HR function to serve employees in an effective manner.
Effective human resource management practices refer to the practices and policies that
are involved in carrying the human resource concerns of management position such as
job analysis, HR planning, recruitment and selection, compensation design, orientation,
performance appraisal, labour relations and training and development (Dessler, 2007).
Takeuchi and Takeuchi (2013) have suggested that influence of human resource
management practice (HRMP) on behavioral outcomes of employees is neither
unconditional nor direct. Nevertheless, employee evaluation about their commitment
and fit to the organization plays critical role in perceiving positive HRMP. In the same
line of thought, Reddy (2004) has proposed some tactics for enhancing employee
productivity and reducing employee absenteeism.

Others have suggested that

interesting jobs have positive impact on employee attitudes and behaviors for
accomplishing their duties in an effective manner (Gaan, 2011). In this regard, the
selected manufacturing company in Dubai needs to improve its working conditions for
reducing absenteeism in employees.
AlZalabani and Modi (2014) have also noted that poor working conditions are the
hygiene factors that result in job dissatisfaction in employees. Although presence of
interesting working conditions do not ensure job satisfaction, but its absence can further
result in job dissatisfaction in employees.

Emin (2007) has suggested that total productivity is a critical factor for the
organizational success. However, many manufacturing organizations have stressful
working conditions and heavy loadings such as extreme cold/heat, poor lighting, noise,
chemical smell, dust and vibration that can have negative impacts on employee
productivity (AlZalabani and Modi 2014). These problems can also prevail in the case
of given organization that has been facing low employee productivity and high
absenteeism. For resolving this issue, AlZalabani and Modi (2014) have noted that
employee productivity depends on the motivation level and job satisfaction. In this
respect, they have noted that working hours and employee attitudes towards work are
interrelated with each other. This suggests that the organization in the given case
should also amend its working hours in the alignment of employee needs to improve
their performance in the long run. AlZalabani and Modi (2014) have also emphasized
that hours of work and payment are related with each other. Furthermore, salary and
wage are critical for employees to keep them motivated and attaining organizational
goals (Oshagbemi, 2000). Therefore, managers need to maintain a link between pay
and working hours of employees to keep employees motivated and enhance their
performance. This was also supported by Reddy (2004) who suggests that financial
benefits improve employee motivation and commitment with the organization and also
improve their performance. Therefore, the organization in the given case needs to
provide attractive and competitive financial benefits to employees to enhance their
intent to work for the organization.
Aziri (2006) has suggested that employee feelings and attitudes determine job
satisfaction. Further, he revealed that favorable and positive attitudes of employees
result in job satisfaction whereas unfavorable and negative attitudes result in job
dissatisfaction. This suggests that is managers play effective role in developing positive
and favorable attitudes in employees, employee performance will enhance and they will
demonstrate lower absenteeism.
AlZalabani and Modi (2014) have revealed that job performance of employees depends
on the human resource practices such as competitiveness, quality of supervision and
health of the industry. This suggests that managers need to align human resource

practices in alignment with the industry trends and competitiveness for keeping
employees motivated and to improve their performance. If human resource practices
are not aligned with the industry competitiveness and trends, employees can get demotivated with their organization and can develop intentions of leaving the organization.
Therefore, the selected organization needs to align its personnel management practices
for improving employee productivity.
When it comes to employee productivity, training and development play critical role.
Training has been defined as the learning process that by which employees acquires
get knowledge, develop abilities and improve their skills to enhance their performance
at job (Rue and Byars, 2006). They have further suggested that training and
development are very important for improving employee productivity and developing
their positive attitudes towards job. When employees are provided effective training
programs, they become able to adapt themselves to the new working environment and
competitive organization. Therefore, manager in the given organization need to arrange
frequent and effective training sessions for employees to improve their performance.
Some other researchers have also noted that training and development programs also
improve motivation and commitment level of employees (AlZalabani and Modi, 2014).
Rewards are also very important for improving employee performance and motivation in
the organization. However, development of effective reward strategy is the main
essence of the human resource management because ineffective rewards can only cost
the organization. In this respect, Jane, Hein and Pam (2013) have recommended the
total reward strategy for organizations to attract, develop, motivate and retain
employees in the long run. They were of the view that high performance organizations
deliver rewards to employees twice in a year because they believe that rewards provide
high return in terms of high employee performance. Jane, Hein and Pam (2013) have
recommended following practices for developing total reward system for organizations:
Develop clear goals for rewards: Organizations need to develop clear goals for the
rewards. For this reason, clear objectives must be set for developing effective rewards
for improving employee performance.

Aligning rewards with objectives of organization: Organizations need to align the

rewards with the mainstream objectives of organization so that financial investment in
terms of rewards can be returned through high employee performance. Jane et al
(2013) have also suggested that managers need to align rewards with the training,
culture and career development of the organizations.
Creating association between rewards, employee performance and organizational
objectives: While developing effective reward strategy, managers need to undertake
innovative practices by which rewards can meet needs of diverse workforce. In this way,
employees will also make efforts to gain the rewards.
Measure success on rewards:

Jane et al (2013) have suggested that managers

need to adopt effective practices for measuring success on rewards. This is because if
organizations do not measure success on rewards, it is less likely that employee
performance will improve. This will also result in assessing that whether rewards have
contributed in improving employee performance or not.
Take input from employees: While developing effective reward strategy, managers
need to take input from employees regarding the prevailing rewards. This will help in
assessing that whether current reward system has worked effectively or not. Jane et al
(2013) have also suggested that input from managers and employees regarding reward
strategy contributes in aligning reward system with employee needs and preferences.
In conclusion, it has been said that personnel management has changed over the time.
The organization in the given case needs to take innovative measures and practices for
improving employee performance and productivity. It has been concluded that the
managers of the given organization need to provide attractive benefits, rewards and
working environment to employees. Besides this, managers should also take measures
for creating interesting working environment in the organization.

References
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Essex: Pearson Education Limited
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