Unit 18 Human Resources Management Assignmnet - PM Pvt Ltd

Introduction

Human Resources are the key resources in the success of any organization and they help the effective deployment of other resources along with contributing to the productivity of the organization especially in case of services organization. Recruitment and Selection of the best individuals is very important to keep the organization viable and well performing. The case involves the description of the role of the newly appointed CEO in reversing the position of the Courier services providing PM company at UK which is incurring losses, owes salaries to employees, loosing staff including top managers, lacking in customer trust due to delays in delivery and having a weak recruitment and selection criteria. The company is suffering loss of faith of the customers and employees due to inability to pay them. Thus the newly appointed CEO at the PM Couriers can turn the situation around by involving in improvement and correction of the recruitment and selection procedures.

Task 1 

1.3 Participation in selection process

The recruitment of good candidates through advertisements is followed by selection of the best candidate that matches the job profile in the organization. This is done by the HR department at PM organization in consultation with the CEO (Schacter et al, 2010).

• Designing of Selection Panel- PM Couriers is required to undertake selection of three different kinds of staff which needs separate panels for undertaking the interviews and screening of applications.
• Screening of candidates- the applicants are screened for desired qualifications and skills and this is followed by a written exam, aptitude test, driving test, screening interview etc as the case may be for driver, manager or other posts. The shortlisted applicants pass on the final interview stage with the selection panel.
• Selection Interviews- it includes a one-to-one interview with the selection panel and is all about background check, consulting with previous employee relation, negotiations and asking for motivation to apply for the present job.
• Appointment- the finalized candidates by the selection panel are contacted through calls or mails and provided with a letter informing the joining date and other necessary details.

 1.4 Own contribution in selection process

As the company is facing problems of high employee turnover along with losses and salaries outstanding, I as the newly appointed CEO will ensure the selection of the best and skilled workforce through being a part of the selection panels and will be actively involved in short listing of the right people matching the job and person specifications for the job positions. Also I will be actively involved in appropriate formulation and placement of the advertisements in order to attract the best talents in the industry and to maintain the falling reputation of the company. I will play an important role in getting back the trust of the customers which is affected by the delays in deliveries through getting talented employees at work in the organization.

LO 2 Styles and impacts of leadership 

2.1 Skills and attributes for leadership

Effective leadership plays a very important role in the successful and efficient working of the employees and most effective utilization of the resources of the company. As the PM couriers is facing huge losses and turnover, the CEO must motivate the leaders or the departmental managers in order to influence the employees to perform towards the improvement of the present situation of the company. Thus all the managers must bear attributes of a leader and must be able to influence the behaviors and attitudes of the employees in order to make them strive for better performance of the overall organization. All the managers must be capable of taking decisions independently and must be able to improve the contribution of the respective departments towards organization objectives like the HR manager must act in motivating and recruitment of the right candidates along with recruitment of best employees for other departments in order to bring the whole company out of current situation (Foti et al, 2007). The HR manager must act as a leader in motivating the drivers towards timely and safe delivery of couriers to destination and influence them to work at odd times thus driving their commitment towards the organizational objectives of speedy and timely delivery of couriers. Also the manager must act as a leader in able to drive the efforts of the department towards the improvement of the organizational performance. 

2.2 Difference between leadership and management

A manager in the organization must have the attributes of a leader as management is all about getting things done by right people at right time and place. Leadership is all about influencing the behaviors and attitudes of a person or members of the group in order to motivate them to attain or reach common objectives of the group (Zaccharo et al, 2008). As in case of PM Couriers, the managers are supposed to handle the efforts of the team or the department and get the objectives of the respective department achieved in order to attain stability and performance of the overall organization. But as the company is facing losses and high staff turnover, the role of CEO and the department managers is more like a leader in ensuring commitment of employees or new recruits toward improvement of the organization. The managers including the CEO must follow democratic style of leadership and provide authorities to others in the organization and take suggestions of all the employees and improve their involvement in the organization through participation in the decision making process. 

2.3 Leadership styles for different situations

In Autocratic style of leadership, the employees are not allowed to participate in the decision making of the organization and are supposed to work for the assigned tasks thus there is low level of motivation in the employees in this style of leadership and if the CEO at PM Couriers uses this style of leadership the organization may not be able to improve the current situation due to high level of dissatisfaction amongst employees. If the CEO uses Laissez Faire approach of leadership where all the decisions are taken by the employees and managers are merely the supervisors then also the organization may fail due to conflicts amongst employees. Whereas in paternalistic leadership style by the CEO where the leader acts as father figure and employees are given no choices and independence the organization may not be able to improve due to lack of decision making power to employees and dependence on managers for decisions (Howell et al, 2012). Best style in case of present scenario of PM Couriers, democratic style will work out to be the best in influencing employees to perform by allowing them in decision making of the organizations and drives their motivation towards organizational objectives of speed, services and timely delivery.

2.4 Motivate staff to attain objectives

The motivation can be understood in terms of needs of the employees as shown by the Maslow’s Hierarchy below. The lower level of the needs of the employees working in the organization include fulfillment of basic needs like food, clothing, etc through providing sufficient compensation and providing for their safety at work. Thus PM couriers must pay handsome salaries to employees at par with industry prevalent rates and provide for safety of drivers and other employees at work. The company must provide for social needs of the employees by giving due respect and must be providing rewards or recognition for better performance or work (Silberstein, 2010). The company must provide rewards and annually award the divers who did the best possible safe and timely deliveries of couriers. Also the company must provide for training and development of the employees in order to realize their higher order needs at job like self actualization.

LO 3 Effective team working

3.1 Benefits of team working for organization

In an organization various teams operate for the efficient and effective performance through sharing of skills and knowledge with the members of the team in order to attain the group objectives which is very crucial for improvement in present situation of PM Couriers. Thus the team working can contribute to performance of the organization by driving collective commitment of team members and through effective knowledge sharing (Skemp et al, 2011). Another benefit of the team working for the organization is the synergy that leads to better performance of all the group members towards goals. The employees working in team can finish the work faster and in a better manner than individual working alone. Also better creativity and generation of better ideas comes from team work and it leads to reduction in work pressure due to affiliation and shared responsibilities. It helps to develop relationships within the employees and provides for social care needs of the employees thus making them feel valued at work whilst contributing to performance of the team and improved job satisfaction.  

3.2 Demonstrate working in a team as member and leader towards goals, dealing with difficult or conflict situation

The PM Courier at UK has the mission to reestablish its image as a fast, safe and providing quality services and delivery, thus the role of CEO is very crucial as leading a team of managers or multiple teams or departments. The Belbin’s model of team work could be applied in the organization in order to perform task effectively as it involves a team Coordinator who is vested with the responsibility of coordinating the activities of various people in the group towards the marked targets or goals as the company wishes to attain stability and bounce back to profits in the coming two years. The Resources Investigator is responsible for maintaining the resources as per requirements like funds, vehicles, etc and the Shaper is held responsible for shaping of tasks and deals with the conflict situations as may arise between the driver or delivery person and administration regarding the time, handling of couriers, delivery, etc. the role of Implementation wing in the team is to do the tasks as described and stay off any conflicts.  (Burrus et al, 2009). The team worker’s role in the organization is to perform the functions or the tasks to reach goals as drivers or delivery personnel are involved in making safe and timely deliveries and they may act as finisher who focuses on the completion of tasks in stipulated time. Thus if the whole PM Couriers is committed to effective team work under coordination of CEO it may attain stability soon in forthcoming year.

3.3 Effectiveness of teams in goals attainment 

As the organization PM Couriers is currently in a very poor situation thus the new CEO has a lot to do which could not be possible without the effective team work (Benjamin et al, 2013). The newly appointed CEO in coordination with the new recruits and previously employed individuals must form entirely new team and strive for attaining stability and gaining trust of employees and customers in coming two years. The team allows for sharing of skills and knowledge leading to better commitment and synergy amongst the team members and if the culture or the ethical codes set by the top management supports team working and open communication with democracy in leadership then the effective team work at PM Couriers could lead to attainment of marked goals in stipulated time of two years. By using the Belbin’s model the CEO can assign the various roles in the organization leading to improved performance and work culture thus leading to employee satisfaction and trust in the organization which can in turn generate quality and timely customer services and thus customer faith.

LO 4 Assessment of work and development needs in individuals

4.1 Planning of monitoring and assessment of work 

The performance of the employees in the organization PM Couriers must be monitored on regular basis and any improvements or suggestions must be made by the relevant manager in order to improve the overall organizational performance. It can be done using following techniques as:
Checking for Quality and Time: the employees of the company must be checked regularly for orderly functioning at any point of time by ensuring the couriers are delivered on right time, place and safely. This should be done using observation and Couriers delivery data analysis methods.
Performance Appraisals: the courier company may organize one to one interviews with the staff on a periodic basis and understand the problems faced by them in order to help them improve in their work performance.
Customer Feedbacks: The firm may enter in to collecting valuable feedbacks from the customers or the suppliers of the couriers regarding the services of the company and behavior of the delivery personnel (Tang et al, 2010)

4.2 Plan and deliver the individual developmental needs assessment 

For any organization including PM Couriers, the high and efficiently performing employees are important in delivering success thus the company keeps them motivated and provides for their training and development in accordance with the employee needs. The needs assessment includes following stages as: (a) Analysis of the company objectives and Goals: the PM couriers wants to be recognized in UK as speedy, safe  and timely delivering courier services.(b) Analysis of key tasks performed : main tasks includes handling of customers or clients and delivering of couriers(c) Skills or person or performance Analysis : the company is experiencing losses due to poor quality of HR thus current performance is poor. The new recruits must be trained to match the skills needed by the company in order to improve performance and thus bridge the gap between current and desired performance in timely safe and speedy delivery of couriers (Pritchard et al, 2012). (d) Content of training and learning style: In current organization scenario, pragmatic leadership style should be used in order to develop the practical approach of the employees and the skills, knowledge or the attitudes that needs to be affected in the employees participating in the program is planned in order to design a good and sustainable training program. 

4.3 Evaluation of assessment procedure

In order to come of the current situation of huge losses and high employee turnover in PM Couriers at UK, the company must first manage the recruitment and selection of suitable candidates and orient them in order to be committed to work in bringing the organization out of the present situation. It must identify the gap between the skills needed and skills possessed in the organization in order to bridge the gap through training or further recruitment as the case may be (Kacmar et al, 2009). The employees participating in the training process must be verified with good performance and confidence in decision making in tough situations being faced by the organization as PM couriers. Thus the performance of the employees must be effectively observes and monitored in order to ensure further training needs and the effectiveness of the present training methods. If need be any changes must be incorporated in the training methods to ensure better performance of the staff.

Conclusion

As seen in the case the company PM Couriers which is currently incurring heavy losses and facing the lack of trust of employees due to lack of salaries payment capability and customer faith due to lack of timely delivery services. The newly appointed CEO must work in leading the managers as driving force for the improvement of organization and must actively participate in recruitment and selection of the best employees, also the CEO must influence the working patterns managers on a positive note. Motivation of the employees at the present organization involves paying handsome salaries to employees on time and providing for the rewards and recognitions for superior performing employees. Also the CEO must make use of democratic style of leadership and provide due authority to employees and manager in order to involve them in decision making and driving their commitment towards improvement in the present situation of PM Couriers at UK. Also the performance of the employees must be effectively monitored by the managers at the organization in order to take corrective action when and where necessary. 

References

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