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A treasure too valuable to waste

Human resource management

Introduction

Any business is only as good as the people who comprise the organization. Therefore, an

excellent employee is a pearl of great price. However, instead of recognizing the value oftheir employees, many companies still squander these precious human resources in a

number of ways. This review explores some of the problems in human resource

management and suggests possible solutions.

Problems with recruitment and promotion

There are various points in a career trajectory where problems can occur, from recruitment,

through training and mentorship, to promotion and retention. Recruitment can be particularly

difficult because a new employee is an unknown factor. Straker (2009) points out that the

evidence that many companies are failing to recruit the right people is the number of people

who are patently in the wrong job! He suggests that one reason for this is that organizations

make job offers based on past performance rather than on a realistic assessment of futurepotential. A mis-match between an individual and their position within a company may,

however, be due to factors other than poor recruitment practices. Employees can be

promoted into positions that no longer match their skills; rigidity in organizational structures

may inhibit opportunities for employees, particularly women, who need to balance work and

family responsibilities; and organizational reward structures can encourage people to take

jobs for the wrong reasons.

Promotion is often used as a way to fill job vacancies internally and according to Straker

(2009), about a third of all internal appointments are acquired because of relationship

networks or secondary opinion. Excellent performance in one job does not necessarily

translate into the same level of performance on the next rung of the career ladder. This can

be especially true when a promotion involves managerial responsibilities.

Failing to promote employees with the aptitude and skills to be effective managers can bejust as big a mistake as promoting the wrong people. Recent evidence indicates that

organizations with women in top management positions out perform those with more

traditional, male-dominated leadership structures. However, many women who begin their

careers on an equal footing with their male colleagues fail to reach the highest levels of

management because of rigid organizational structures that inhibit an achievable work-life

balance. Although many companies are beginning to recognize the value of a more flexible

approach to working, employees who take advantage of this are often seen as less

committed or ambitious.

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Flexible working practices

However, some organizations have adopted innovative models of flexible working such as

Best Buys results only work environment (ROWE) which allows employees complete control

over how, when and where they work as long as they achieve agreed objectives. ROWE has

resulted in greater reported happiness among employees, less attrition and a 35 percent

increase in profits. Another model of flexibility is Deloittes mass career customization (MCC)

program that enables employees to alter four different career dimensions. These are: rate of

career progression, workload, location and role. Altering the rate of career progression could

be a big boon to female employees who often have different career patterns from men due to

family responsibilities. In some companies employees who do not progress to senior

management at the anticipated point in their careers (based on a masculine norm) fail toachieve senior positions at all.

Womens differing career trajectories

This arc-of-career flexibility is a serious issue for women, according to Cabrera (2009).

Women often take career breaks just as they are becoming well established in their jobs,

which can make it difficult to re-establish a traditional career pathway. Womens careers may

peak later than those of men due to their preference for more family-friendly working

practices in the child bearing and child rearing years. Businesses that cannot accommodate

non-traditional career patterns risk losing talented women who could make substantial

contributions later in their working lives. Many women choose a so-called protean career

path that involves altering career goals to meet changing personal circumstances or a

kaleidoscope career model (KCM) that emphasizes authenticity and changing needs.Greater accommodation of womens fluctuating career requirements could assist in the

retention of talented female employees and provide support for their return to demanding

managerial roles later in their careers.

External versus intrinsic motivation

The fact that money does not appear to be womens only career motivation may be one of the

attributes that makes them such valuable employees. The recent banking crisis has

demonstrated how destructive the bonus culture, where personal gain was the motivation to

take big risks with other peoples money, can be. This crisis may prove beneficial in the long

term if it causes corporations to consider how they motivate employees. The use of external

motivation, such as large bonuses can be counter productive because such bonuses foster

personal greed rather than corporate conscience and promote competition rather thancollaborative working practices. Straker (2009) compares such external motivation to a

donkey that has a carrot dangled in front of its nose to make it walk faster. The carrot does not

make the donkey want to walk quickly; it just creates a desire for the carrot. Intrinsic rewards,

on the other hand, are more sustainable and help employees to focus on the job rather than

on the reward. Intrinsic motivation can be encouraged by asking employees what motivates

them and allowing them to decide what their own rewards should be. This can be something

as simple as receiving recognition from a line manager for completing a difficult task or

being offered additional training in areas of personal interest or desirable skills.

A mis-match between an individual and their position within acompany may, be due to factors other than poor recruitmentpractices. Employees can be promoted into positions that nolonger match their skills and organizational reward structurescan encourage people to take jobs for the wrong reasons.

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Job internships

One area of intrinsic motivation seems to be an employees perception that they are using

their skills effectively and working to their capability. Using highly paid employees to do

routine tasks can be de-motivating and frustrating. A specialist professional library in

Australia recognized that using highly skilled staff to do jobs such as stacking shelves was

not cost effective. Not only were such routine tasks repetitive and boring, they took time away

from more complex and rewarding activities such as research or project work. The solution

was to employ library students on short term contracts to take over the day to day

administrative work such as filing, photocopying, dealing with the post and answering

telephone and email requests. There were some unexpected rewards for both the library

staff and for the student interns. The library staff increased their mentoring skills, while the

students helped them to keep up to date with new information. The students gained the

opportunity to experience the reality of working in a specialist professional library and

acquired skills that they could add to their CVs when applying for initial posts following

graduation. The librarians were able to provide realistic references based on knowledge of

the students capabilities in the working environment.

Internships are not only useful for students. They can be used within organizations to allow

employees to try out different roles. Sometimes human resources are wasted because

employees are stereotyped based on current roles or responsibilities. Helping people to

learn new skills and try out different jobs within an organization can be a form of intrinsic

motivation and may aid in retention of staff who might otherwise leave to seek new

challenges elsewhere.

Conclusion

In the twenty-first century the business environment has become extremely competitive and

continuous improvement is no longer an option; it has become a necessity. One area where

organizations of any size can create changes is in their utilization of human resources.

People are a companys greatest asset. Changing outdated structures and even more

archaic attitudes can help to attract, motivate and retain the employees who have the vision,

skills and determination to adapt to a constantly changing world. Assessing potential when

appointing or promoting staff; creating flexible organizational structures which will help all

employees to achieve a better work-life balance; recognition of womens different career

trajectories and developing intrinsic motivation in employees are all ways in which

organizations can find and hold onto the treasure of human resources.

Comment:

All three articles listed under references were interesting and informative. The article by

David Straker was the first in a series of three articles about the nine dimensions of human

resource wastage. It explored the first three of these, all which involved waste at the

organizational level. These were: misuse of capability, mis-design of the organization and

mis-motivation of people. The article illustrated the problem and then provided solutions, set

out in little solution boxes. This article would be useful as part of a training course for

managers. Elizabeth Cabrera focused on the career needs of highly educated

businesswomen. In her empirical research, she interviewed women who had taken career

Although many companies are beginning to recognize thevalue of a more flexible approach to working, employees whotake advantage of this are often seen as less committed andambitious.

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breaks due to family responsibilities. This provided some valuable insights about womens

career trajectories and their needs when returning to work after a career break. Alyson

Dalbys (2009) article was the odd one out of the three. It was an interesting description of an

initiative taken by a specialist library to introduce student internships in order to reduce the

amount of routine administrative tasks undertaken by the library staff. However, the topic was

quite different from that of the other two articles as it focused on one very specific initiative

and its impact on both staff and the students who were employed as interns.

Keywords:

Human resource

management,

Retention,

Fexible labour,

Women

References

Cabrera, E.F. (2009), Protean organizations: reshaping work and careers to retain female talent,Career Development international, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 186-92.

Dalby, A. (2009), Nurturing new talent: running a corporate internship programme, Library

Management, Vol. 30 Nos 8-9, pp. 583-93.

Straker, D. (2009), Waste not want not (waste of people assets), Quality World, May, pp. 40-6.

Altering the rate of career progression could be a big boon tofemale employees who often have different career patternsfrom men due to family responsibilities. In some companiesemployees who do not progress to senior management at theanticipated point in their careers (based on a masculine norm)fail to achieve senior positions at all.

VOL. 18 NO. 3 2010 jHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGESTj PAGE 29

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