The Significance of Human Resource Management
Human resource management is one of the most significant parts of corporate entity that deals with controlling the employees, who are directly associated with that of the production. The fundamental role of HRM is to align the issue among employees and take proactive action accordingly in terms of mitigating the issues and there keep them motivated and productive. The specific approach of HRM is to hire staffs, conducting training and development program for them and executing motivational strategies for keeping them happy and loyal towards the organization (Bratton & Gold, 2012).
There are certain models, which support in running the HRM practices in a consistent manner. The Harvard Model of human resource management is one of the most significant framework which deals with different components of HRM such as stakeholder’s interest, multiple situational factors, choice of policy of HRM, consequences and feedback loop.
Figure 1: Harvard Model of HRM
(Source: English & Mayo, 2012)
According to this model, there are multiple stakeholders of an organization such as employees, government, community, whose interest must be satisfied. This is highly significant as the employees have significant influence on attaining desired business outcome. This model shows that, it is the prime responsibility of the managers of business organizations to align competitive strategy and employment policies to protect the interest of employees. Cohen, (2010) commented that the model serves the companies with a flow of system, which is highly required for running an organization in more strategic manner.
Michigan model is another vital framework of human resource management, which deals with best-fit approach. This model emphasizes that it is imperative to treat the employees in such a manner, so that they can achieve organizational goals. As per this model, increasing productivity among the employees should be key principle of HRM in order to amplify overall organizational productivity (Field, 2004).
Based on the analysis of two different models of HRM, it can be said that Harvard is the best framework. This model highlights certain situational factors such as the characteristics of workforce, management philosophy, the legislative procedures of labor market and the societal values, which can have a long term impact on the relationship between employers and employees. This is the way, through which negative vive among the employees can be mitigated. In addition, this model puts ample stress on the role of management to keep the staffs motivated and thereby improve productivity among them (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). One of the major aspects of this model is that, it puts ample stress on the significance of reward and recognition as the key of keeping the staffs in the loop. At the same time, assigning tasks as per the skill and potential of the employees also play a significant role in generating motivation among the employees.
Models of Human Resource Management: Harvard Model and Michigan Model
This Harvard Model focuses on soft approach of human resource management that perceives organization as a society and the employees as members. Thus, it is imperative to satisfy the psychological needs such as healthy working environment, job security, less stress of staffs in order to generate commitment among them (Bratton, & Gold, 2017). This model helps the HR department of an organizations in terms of designing the job, empowering the employees in decision making process and initiating innovation and creativity within team. These factors are highly significant in terms of improving the productivity of entire organization which is the key factor of satisfying predetermined goals and objectives.
Neoliberalism ideology is based on the financial point of view related to free market and globalization. This can have a firm impact on the policies and procedures of human resource management. Free access to the labor market is acting as a driving force among the companies to devise their recruitment procedure in order to hire wide range of staffs. Neoliberalism is serving the companies with the ability to run their business in a cost effective manner (Bailey et al., 2018). Neoliberalism is one of the most significant models of economics, which deals with the transfer of economic factors from the public sector to the private sector.
Corporate social responsibility of an organization plays a significant role in strengthening the public image of a company. Therefore, in-depth understanding about the social policy serves an organization with the ability to implement effective CSR policy and thereby promote environmental wellbeing.
Pluralistic approach is one of the most significant approaches of human resource management which highlights that, there are multiple source of power within an organization that influence the relationship between employers and employees. It is imperative to balance the power in between employers and employees in order to mitigate any kind of conflicting situation in the organization and thereby operate the internal functionality in a consistent manner (Markey et al., 2018). As per this approach, conflict is an inevitable factor in an organization, which can be moderated through innovation and creativity. Thus, it is the prime responsibility of the human resource department of an organization to understand perspective among the staffs and set the policies accordingly for mitigating long-term conflict in an organization.
Inequality is one of the major negative aspects of an organization, which hampers the productivity of the employees. This can affect the public image of a company. Protecting the economic requirement of employees play a significant role in generating demotivation among the employees. Reports are showing that huge gap of salary in between higher authority decreases morality among the employees and generate reluctant attitude among them to perform their duty with utmost efficiency (Guest, 2017). Inequality in salary is one of the most omnipresent issues of workplace discrimination that affects commitment among the employees. The trend of under-payment of the employees create certain discrimination for the companies to access a strong labor pool. Lower wage affects the performance of the employees. The employees are more likely to suffer from financial worries if they cannot get required salary. The fundamental reason behind the stress level among the employees is nothing but their worry about the inability to satisfy monthly obligation. Such increased stress among the employees is one of the most significant factors behind lower morale and productivity among the employees (Debroux, 2017).
Canadian Workforce: Policies and Practices
The fundamental goal of HRM is to maximize the performance level among the employee. The Canadian workforce is highly significant in terms of implementing effective organizational policy to protect the needs and requirements of staffs. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is the major healthcare home in Canada who have implemented employee friendly practices in order to keep them loyal and motivated. In Canada, the human resources are being considered as one of the most significant factor to strengthen organizational productivity (Analoui, 2017). In the Canadian context, the health human resources (HHR) are the fundamental focal point for the policy makers and they are taking ample towards satisfying their requirement. The healthcare administrators and health services are also taking intense care towards strengthening the productivity among the employees.
Execution of effective employment regulation is the key aspect of Canada. There are more than 90% staffs in the healthcare sector of Canada, who are protected under this rules and regulations. Considerable wage structure is one of the major HR practices in Canada. According to the legislative framework, ant kind of overdue of payment must be avoided and any kind of discrimination must not be followed while providing payment to the staffs. Record keeping is the major health practices, being followed in Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. The management of this health care organization is maintaining a data base for keeping the records of individual employees and they also share terms and condition of employment with the care workers (Brewster, 2017). This is the way, through which Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is keeping the staffs informed. According to the subsection 239.1(3), it is the prime responsibility of employers to maintain safety policy at workplace for protecting the health and wellbeing of the employees. The higher authority of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is taking utmost care towards getting safety measures at workplace. This is the key of protecting the health of human resources and thereby keep them motivated (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).
However, it has been observed that strategic human resource management is absent in Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Therefore, it is imperative for them to execute effective strategy for running their strategic management framework in a consistent manner. It is imperative to execute a matrix to measure the performance level among the staffs. Training must be provided to the below working employee to accelerate their skill and competency level. Reward must be provided to the employees for generating work related motivation among them. It is the prime responsibility of the management of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to provide both monetary and non-monetary reward for satisfying their esteem need as well as psychological need.
References:
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Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
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Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
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