Introduction
Human resource management is one of the critical areas that define the performance of an organization, as it helps in the control of the human element focusing on improvement of all business activities for better outcomes (de Mesquita Ferreira, & de Aquino Almeida, 2018). However, it is essential to take note of the fact that organizations may find themselves experiencing a wide array of human resource problems that may hamper their capacities or abilities to deliver positive results. From that perspective, this report will embark on an analysis of a human resource problem within an organization with the focus being towards the adoption of strategic approaches to help reach the expected solution. The organization selected for this report is a middle-sized manufacturing company with approximately 550 employees.
Problem Identification
Description of the Organization
The organization selected for this project, ABC Manufacturing, deals with the designing and manufacturing of a wide array of electronics matching consumer demands in the markets. As part of its growth strategy, ABC Manufacturing has focused much of its attention on gaining new market entries. The expansion of the company has projected the overall capacity for the company to maintain market performance, as the company finds itself in a position where its market share has increased significantly. The company, which was founded in 1994, has approximately 550 employees working within various departments in the company and has been at the forefront in creating that positive workplace environment for their employees. The high number of employees means that the company must work towards promoting efficiency in human resource management. Thus, this creates the need for having to engage in an in-depth analysis of the human resource department with the focus being towards the identification of critical issues impacting its performance.
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The context of the Problem
After analyzing the human resource element within ABC Manufacturing, it can be noted that the critical problem that the organization is facing revolves around high turnover rates attributed to a vast array of factors. Lee, Hom, Eberly, Junchao (Jason) Li, and Mitchell, (2017) defines employee turnover as the rate within which employees tend to leave their employment positions either voluntarily or involuntarily. The human resource problem associated with turnover has been notably expensive for the company attributed to the overall cost margins related to the recruitment, as well as, training and development of new employees. On the other hand, the company finds itself in a position within which the problem influences its ability to meet market demands from its consumers. Due to the high turnover rates experienced, the primary challenge that the company is facing revolves around delays in its production processes.
The fact that ABC Manufacturing is spending significant amounts of money in dealing with the issue of turnover among its employees seeks to suggest that indeed this is a critical problem that the company ought to consider. In a study on employee turnover, Cho, Rutherford, Friend, Hamwi, and Park (2017) argue that an increase in turnover has a direct impact on operating revenue considering that companies spend significant amounts of money in recruiting and training new employees. In that same context, ABC Manufacturing is facing a similar challenge forcing the company to adopt somewhat effective strategic approaches that seek to ensure that it bridges the gap created due to employee turnover. The outcome of this is that the company has experienced a significant reduction in its profit margins significantly with the budgetary allocations for the human resource department increasing significantly.
Needs Assessment and Diagnosis
The focus is a needs assessment and diagnosis for ABC Manufacturing with the emphasis being towards handling the issue that the company is facing concerning turnover, which has had notable impacts on its capacity to deliver positive results.
Data Collection
The primary data collection method used in this research study is a survey method with the focus being towards gaining an understanding of critical factors prompting employees to leave their respective positions. The survey will be conducted using a sample of 50 employees working within different departments and divisions within ABC Manufacturing with the intention of trying to understand critical issues affecting their capacities to remain within the company. The employees selected for the research will be expected to fill out a questionnaire, which will contain both open and closed-ended questions. Usage of the questionnaire is somewhat practical for this study, as it will help in ensuring that the researcher collects adequate data to help support the research findings.
Data Analysis
The data analysis approach undertaken within this study is the use of SPSS software with the focus being towards ensuring that the researcher can group data depending on the responses given by the sample selected. The data analysis software will then create a strategic approach from which to identify and examine a given pattern in the data collected. In this study, the focus is on trying to explore some of the possible outcomes touching on employee turnover, thus, creating the need for having to identify a specific pattern in the data collected. The pattern is essential in the identification of effective interventions or strategies that would be of great value towards dealing with the issue at hand.
From the data collected and analyzed, it is clear that employee turnover remains a fundamental issue affecting the performance of ABC Manufacturing annually. The turnover rate within the company is approximately 32.8% annually, which is significantly based on the cost of replacing these employees (Lee, Hom, Eberly, Junchao (Jason) Li, and Mitchell, 2017). From the responses given, one of the key factors noted as a pivotal contributor to the problem is remuneration with the focus being on pay and benefits. As can be pointed out from the responses, ABC Manufacturing fails to accord its employees with competitive pay and benefits, which, in turn, forces them to look for alternative employment. On the other hand, lack of job satisfaction remains as a critical issue of concern considering that majority of the employees find themselves in a position where they are not satisfied with their positions. In such cases, the possibility of turnover increases significantly with the employees seeking to find employment positions that would provide them with the satisfaction that they would need.
Proposed Organization Development Interventions
The following are some of the proposed interventions that would help in dealing with the issue of employee turnover, as has been discussed above.
Hiring the Right People
The first significant intervention for employee turnover entails hiring people that are fit for a particular position in an organization. Hiring the right people involves having employees with strong skills that match the position and the culture of the organization. The implementation of the intervention in the organization would require engaging in through interviews that seek to identify behavioral and cultural aspects of an individual that makes them fit for a given position. The company will invest in ensuring that the shortlisted candidates for different positions are shown around the business environment to have a clear understanding of the workplace culture. The implementation of the strategy will require the human resource department of the company to engage in the process within three months to ensure that the company has the right workforce.
The implementation of the strategy faces potential resistance, which influences the nature of outcomes expected during the entire process of solving the issue of employee turnover in the organization. The human resource department should capitalize on identifying the anticipated resistance to develop measures to overcome the resistance and obtain positive and expected outcomes. Resistance to the intervention may involve lack of approval and support from the top management to engage in the rigorous exercise that seeks to identify cultural and behavioral fits for various positions within the organization. The resistance may be due to the nature of resources required and the timeline for the implementation of the intervention. However, the implementation of the strategy faces long-term and short-term benefits that capitalize on the need for the implementation of the intervention. The interests involve limiting the costs of hiring new employees when others leave their positions and increased performances considering that the hired persons fit the working environment.
Offering Competitive Pay and Benefits
As has been noted in the data collected, one of the key factors contributing to the problem at hand is remuneration touching on pay and benefits of the employees. From that view, it is clear that ABC Manufacturing may need to focus much of its attention on improving the level of pay and benefits offered for its employees. Improvement of pay and benefits creates a new front from which to ensure that employees remain satisfied with the positions that they hold within the company as a way of driving performance outcomes (Wang, Wang, Xu, & Ji, 2014). Ultimately, this means that the company ought to anticipate not only a reduction in turnover rates but also an improvement in employee productivity levels.
The required resources for this solution would involve having to restructure the budget on salaries and compensation of employees. Thus, this means that the implementation of this solution would only be possible within the next financial year after the management within ABC Manufacturing has undertaken a rigorous job analysis. The management must also consider the possibility of resistance from shareholders within the company, who will argue on the basis that this would reduce the company's profits significantly. However, the top-level management at ABC Manufacturing must point out the fact that offering competitive pay and benefits to the employees would mean that the company will experience a reduction in employee turnover. Thus, this means that the budget spent on recruiting and training new employees would be directed towards paying the current employees within the company as a way of improving their confidence levels in the company.
Employee Engagement
The crucial second intervention that ABC Manufacturing must put in place is promoting employee engagement in all areas of management as a way of boosting confidence and satisfaction levels among the employees. Fardilah (2018) argues that the lack of employee engagement within an organizational setting creates a situation where the decisions reached by the top-level management do not resonate with the lower level employees. In the case of ABC Manufacturing, a lack of employee engagement has created a barrier for the top-level management to understand the nature of the challenges that the lower-level employees are facing.
The implementation of this solution will not require any significant resources, as the company would only be expected to hold focus group meetings with the employees for purposes of discussions. The discussions will reflect on trying to examine and deal with some of the issues that the employees may have as a way of reducing the possibility of a turnover. The timeline for implementation is within one month considering that this solution only reflects on creating avenues for employee engagement. The solution does not expect any form of resistance, as it seeks to create a front for employee participation in all matters of company management. The benefit is that this solution will help towards boosting employee confidence levels significantly with the focus being towards matching set out objectives.
Suggested Evaluation Approach
The implementation of the interventions, as has been presented above, may help boost capacity for ABC Manufacturing to deal with the problem at hand, which is on the increasing rate of employee turnover. However, it is essential to engage in constant evaluation of the interventions to ensure that they meet their expected objectives concerning performance outcomes. The evaluation approach suggested would involve human resource analyses conducted after three months with the focus being towards evaluating whether the number of employees leaving is reducing. The human resource department will be expected to present a report after three months touching on employee turnover rates with the focus being towards understanding the extent to which the company had dealt with the problem.
The expected outcome for the interventions implemented is that job satisfaction would increase significantly while ensuring that the employees understand the negative impacts that their leaving would have on the performance of the company. Through this evaluation approach, it will be much easier to determine whether the solutions have been practical in any way in ensuring that the company can deal with the problem at hand. On the other hand, the approach will also be of value towards reflecting on whether ABC Manufacturing may need to focus on alternative interventions, which would arise if the interventions fail to meet their expected outcomes. In overall, it is essential to take note of the fact that the interventions will be evaluated on a regular basis to determine their effectiveness in reducing turnover rates for the company.
Conclusion
In summary, human resource management is one of the critical areas that define the performance of an organization. The organization selected for this project, ABC Manufacturing, deals with the designing and manufacturing of a wide array of electronics matching. The company, which was founded in 1994, has approximately 550 employees working in various departments in the company. The organization is facing revolves around high turnover rates attributed to a vast array of factors. The fact that ABC Manufacturing is spending significant amounts of money in dealing with the issue of turnover among its employees seeks to suggest that indeed this is a critical problem that the company ought to consider. The turnover rate within the company is approximately 32.8% annually. Some of the proposed solutions include hiring the right people for the respective positions, offering competitive pay and benefits, and promoting employee engagement.
References
Cho, Y. N., Rutherford, B. N., Friend, S. B., Hamwi, G. A., & Park, J. (2017). The role of emotions in frontline employee turnover intentions. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice , 25 (1), 57-68.
De Mesquita Ferreira, L. C., & de Aquino Almeida, C. B. (2015). Employee turnover and organizational performance: A study of the Brazilian retail sector. Brazilian Business Review , 12 (4), 27.
Fardilah, H. (2018). Anteseden Employee Turnover. Jurnal Manajemen dan Pemasaran Jasa , 10 (2), 217-234.
Lee, T. W., Hom, P. W., Eberly, M. B., Junchao (Jason) Li, & Mitchell, T. R. (2017). In the next decade of research in voluntary employee turnover. Academy of Management Perspectives , 31 (3), 201-221.
Wang, X., Wang, L., Xu, X., & Ji, P. (2014). Identifying employee turnover risks using modified quality function deployment. Systems Research and Behavioral Science , 31 (3), 398-404.
