Employees are an Important Asset
Employees are an important asset in any organization. Therefore, it is important to ensure that employee behavior is effectively managed to ensure successful operations. Explain the challenges that managers are likely to face in the process of managing employee behavior. Suggest any five solutions to the challenges.
In today’s highly competitive and fast pacing business world, hiring and retaining highly talented employees are the primary focus of corporations. They implement different business strategies in order to ensure that they attract and hire qualified employees from all across the globe which assist them in generating and maintaining a competitive advantage (Alfes et al., 2013). Only hiring of talented employees is not enough; corporations are required to retain them because they are an important asset to the company. In order to retain qualified employees, the top level management focuses on effectively managing the behaviour of employees which assists in successfully operating the operations of the business. However, while implementing these policies, the human resource managers face a number of challenges while managing employee behaviour. Thus, the HR managers are required to implement effective human resource management policies in order to ensure that they successfully manage the behaviour of employees by encouraging them to achieve the common organisational objectives and establishing a positive working environment (King and Grace, 2012). In this report, the importance of the employees will be discussed. This report will evaluate the challenges faced by the HR managers while managing the behaviour of employees. Furthermore, various recommendations will be given to address the challenges faced by the HR managers.
Employees in an organisation perform various activities relating to production, customer service, information technology, sales, finance, marketing, and human resources. Organisations rely on competitive advantage in order to increase their profitability for which it is important for them to hire right people at the right time and appoint them to the right place. By employing a right employee at the right place, the management can improve the performance of employees which assist them in performing better and coming up with innovative ideas which assist in promoting the success of the corporation (King and Grace, 2012). Many large enterprises such as Apple, Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, and others focus on effectively managing their human resources in order to generate and maintain a competitive advantage. For example, Google is considered as one of the best companies to work for because the company offers a number of benefits to its employees that resulted in attracting talented employees from all across the globe to the company. It assists in making Google one of the most profitability enterprises in the world. Therefore, employees are considered as an important asset in the organisations which required the management to implement effective policies for managing the behaviour of employees at the workplace (Shields et al., 2015). It is important for companies that employees have a positive behaviour in the workplace which assists them in increasing their productivity and achieving common organisational objectives.
Challenges in Managing Employee Behavior
Employee satisfaction is a vital element for the success of an enterprise based on which a corporation can generate a competitive advantage. There are a number of challenges faces by a manager while managing the employee behaviour. Firstly, enterprises focus on hiring qualified employees who assist the company in achieving its corporate objectives. Many times employees did not perform better or give their best to the organisation which affects its profitability (Bolino, Valcea and Harvey, 2010). One of the challenges faced by managers is confronting employees regarding their performance problem. While confronting an employee who is performing poorly, the manager has to make sure that he/she did not make him feel bad or defensive about his/her work. Effectively handling the situation in which the manager is able to understand the issue of employee and resolve such issue is difficult due to which it is difficult for the manager to handle the behaviour of employees. In case the manager did not effectively confront the employee regarding his performance issues, then it could lead to conflict between the manager and the employee. In case the matter is handled poorly then it could lead to establishing a negative environment in the workplace, and the employee might also give resignation. Another key issue which is faced by the HR managers especially in the multinational enterprise is effective management of diversity issues. Organisations are expanding their operations in different countries, and they are hiring talented employees throughout the world which increases the requirement of effective diversity management at the workplace (Tyler and Blader, 2013).
The manager faces difficulty in managing issues among employees who are from different background, culture, race, caste or gender. Effective management of diversity at the workplace is important because it ensures that a positive working environment is established at the workplace in which employees support each other rather than mistreat others. Lack of diversity policies resulted in poor performance of employees due to which the performance of the enterprise suffers as well. The manager also faces issues in controlling the performance of employees because each worker has a different personality and the manager is required to assign them positions in which their personalities did not contradict each other (Kehoe and Wright, 2013). Motivation is another key challenge which is faced by managers in modern enterprises. Highly motived employees perform at their highest capacity which is beneficial for the company. However, it is difficult for managers to motivate employees especially highly qualified employees because monetary incentives do not motivate them. Furthermore, acknowledging the hard work of an employee and recognising it in front of other is another issue which is faced by the managers especially in large corporations. It is difficult for managers to monitor the performance of employees and recognising the workers who performed better than others. Non-recognition of the hard work can demotivate employees that made it difficult for them to become motivated to perform better (King and Grace, 2012). Lack of communication is another issue because the employees are not able to communicate the issues faced by them to the top level management which resulted in creating a negative working environment in which it is difficult for employees to perform better.
Following recommendations can assist the managers in addressing the issues relating to managing employee behaviour:
- Setting up a monthly or quarterly review program in which the manager evaluates the performance of employees. Due to the establishment of these programs, employees will know that their performance will be evaluated by the managers which would reduce conflict between them. It will also assist the managers in confronting employees about their poor performance. It will provide them a platform to discuss the poor performance of employees, understanding the issues faced by them and resolving them to improve their performance. It would also reduce the conflicts between employees and the management (Mone and London, 2018).
- Modern organisations should embrace diversity by establishing appropriate policies which promote and supports diversity in the workplace. The company should ensure that people from different culture, background, caste, religion or gender are not discriminated at the workplace, and they are receiving equal opportunities. Strict actions should be taken against employees who breached the diversity policies at the workplace.
- Each person has a different personality, and the manager should realise this fact, and they should implement business policies by evaluating the personality of employees. For example, giving managerial roles to an introvert person is wrong because they will face issues in dealing with employees. Creating small groups of people with different personalities assist the managers in creating a collaborative environment which promotes the performance of employees (Alfes et al., 2013).
- Motivation is a key factor which assists in promoting the success of a company. The managers should implement ‘Maslow Hierarchy of Needs’ theory for addressing the need of each employee and fulfilling such needs to motivate employees. The managers can motivate employees by fulfilling their needs which assist in improving their performance and the profitability of the corporation (Shields et al., 2015).
- Managers should establish multiple communication channels in the workplace for promoting upward communication which would assist them in understanding the issue of employees. Employees will be able to tell their grievances to the top level management, and appropriate policies will be implemented by them to address their issues. Managers should hold regular meeting with employees to understand their issues and implement appropriate policies to resolve such issues.
Conclusion
In conclusion, employees are a key asset for an organisation due to which the managers focus on implementing appropriate policies for effectively managing their behaviour. By successfully managing the behaviour of employees, corporations can improve the performance of their employees which assist in improving the performance of the company as well. While managing the behaviour of employees, managers face a number of challenges such as lack of communication channels, diversity issues, negative working environment, non-recognition of good performance, lack of motivation, confronting employees regarding their poor performance, and negative working environment. In order to address these issues, companies can set up monthly or quarterly performance review program which will provide them the opportunity to confront employees regarding their poor performance. Strict diversity policies and the dividing employees into small groups based on their personalities will also assist them managers in handling the behaviour of employees. The managers can implement ‘hierarchy of needs’ theory to motivate employees by fulfilling their needs. The can also establish communication channels and hold regular meetings with employees to improve the communication at the workplace. These factors assist in effectively managing the behaviour of employees at the workplace and sustaining the growth of the enterprise.
References
Alfes, K., Shantz, A.D., Truss, C. and Soane, E.C. (2013) The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation model. The international journal of human resource management, 24(2), pp.330-351.
Bolino, M., Valcea, S. and Harvey, J. (2010) Employee, manage thyself: The potentially negative implications of expecting employees to behave proactively. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83(2), pp.325-345.
Kehoe, R.R. and Wright, P.M. (2013) The impact of high-performance human resource practices on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Journal of management, 39(2), pp.366-391.
King, C. and Grace, D. (2012) Examining the antecedents of positive employee brand-related attitudes and behaviours. European Journal of Marketing, 46(3/4), pp.469-488.
Mone, E.M. and London, M. (2018) Employee engagement through effective performance management: A practical guide for managers. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., Johns, R., O’Leary, P., Robinson, J. and Plimmer, G. (2015) Managing Employee Performance & Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tyler, T. and Blader, S. (2013) Cooperation in groups: Procedural justice, social identity, and behavioral engagement. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
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