HRM Essay Example: Managing Diversity and Employee Motivation

The human resource management is a department established within an organization whose major function entails recruitment of, management of and providing direction for the human workforce in an organization (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011). The function of human resource management encompasses all the programs and processes that are coordinated and directed by people within an organization. HR team members are invaluable resource, which offers legal and management advice, the necessary tools, coaching, knowledge, administrative services, and talent management oversight that is integral for the successful operation of an organization (Gilmore & Williams, 2013).

This paper gives a comprehensive description of human resource management concepts that as a potential Director of HRM in a major U.S. corporation would employ to manage the diversity of employees and motivate the workforce to achieve the set organizational goals. I provide an extensive description of my vision on the role of HR management in the organization in different aspects such as gain sharing, merit-based promotions, and compensation.

The Role of Human Resource Management

Human resource management is an important practice that characterizes effective organizational culture. Every organization must uphold and put in place appropriate frameworks that ensure staff interest are taken care of right from recruitment stage through to development and promotional stage. According to my practice and training, my vision of human resource management has always remained the same that of ensuring organization become a good employer, constantly secure workforce commitment, manages and develops the employees to offer their best to assist the organization to achieve its objective and goals. The organization is established to meet and serve the interest of the community and to successfully attain this goal an organization is required to respond appropriately to the changing and dynamic expectations of customers and clients (Hartel & Fujimoto, 2014). This can only be achieved by human workforce working individually and corporately at every department from the lower ranks to the topmost ranks within an organization. Thus better management of employees is an important practice that must be emphasized and given due consideration every organization setting.

My vision is aligned with the belief that employees are in charge of the day-to-day activities of an organization that are expected to deliver the service required. Delivery of service narrows down to individuals working at their optimal level to implement the programs and objectives set by an organization. Organization main task is therefore to provide appropriate management of employees that in the long run help to establish a performance and customer-oriented culture that meet the needs of customers.

To consolidate and foster the attainment of effective HRM in the corporation, I will utilize proven approaches to manage the employees' record improved performance. I will establish a robust, more flexible, and development-oriented managing style that will motivate, train and leverage the potential of employees in a way that can give their best to support departmental missions (Bratton & Gold, 2017). The organization must consider the staff at its disposal as the most important asset (Mullins & Walker, 2013). This should be reflected in how the organization recruits its employees and manage their development. At all times the organization must recruit, promote, and reward them by merit. In the process of developing its workforce, the organization should foster a culture of always coaching the employees to participate and take their share of responsibility for developing their potential. I embody the belief that HRM practice within an organization should be guided and directed by objectives and plans lay out in every department. This facilitates the development of accepted values that will shape the culture of the organization.

The values created will be representative of individual needs of employees. The values ought to be well defined to offer the employees with an instinctive feel for decisions expected from them. In this way, there is a significant reduction of the amount of time spent consulting different heads of departments before making decisions. An important element in HRM practice entails a clear emphasis on every department to establish its values in a manner that best supports its particular objectives, mission, and desired culture (Bach & Edwards, 2013). This goes a long way in motivating the workforce to give their best. For instance, by structuring HRM practice based on the unique needs of departments, an organization will link the functions such as training and performance management appropriately to departmental aims and values. Therefore, upholding a credible HRM gives an organization a necessary impetus to nurture values such as care, teamwork, trust, development and encouragement that facilitate its fulfillment of being a good employer and motivation of employees to produce their best performance (Biswas, 2013).

Workplace Diversity

As the Director of Human Resource Management in the corporation, managing employees from different backgrounds will be an important hallmark for proper coordination of employees. Just like most organizations, HR department comes up with specific approaches to facilitate the creation of an inclusive culture for all employees. American employees are diverse as they come from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. As defined by Truss, Mankin and Kelliher (2012) diversity is much more than racial, gender or ethnic differences, it encompasses any unique qualities that are different from our own and differs from the qualities of the groups to which we belong although other groups and individuals possess the same qualities. This dimension of diversity can be expanded to manifold levels to include such factors as the sexual orientation, geographic location, physical abilities, marital status, religious beliefs, ancestry, age, income, work experience, and educational background (Truss et al., 2012).

Based on the institutional theory of diversity management, I will always investigate and interrogate how these dimensions affect the motivation, performance, and interaction of diverse employees in the workplace with others. I will ensure as provided for in this theory that every institutional structures and practice that act as an impediment to some dimension of diversity are thoroughly assessed and abolished. Effective diversity management involves the adoption of organizational systems and practices that ensure advantages of employees with every dimension of diversity are maximized while in the same measure their potential disadvantages are minimized. Enhancing creativity and flexibility will be a key component in the discharge of my HRM practice within the organization (Elo, 2012). I will ensure programs put place are adaptable and tailored to the needs of the employees. I will consider the heterogeneity of an organization as an important asset that will help the organization become innovative. In my experience, I have observed that employees from diverse backgrounds produce better solutions to problems and adopt a higher level of critical analysis unlike an organization with a homogenous workforce.

For instance, I will value their diversity by seeking new ideas to solve problems and initiate changes that are more effective to the operations of the organization. This can be achieved by modifying the organizational culture such that it reflects more closely to the values of the diverse employees. As envisaged in the institutional theory of diversity management, I will employ skills such as acceptance and embracing of diversity concepts and recognize that diversity marks every aspect of management (Truss et al., 2012). Besides, I will enhance a culture of inclusivity by serving as a role model and limiting all possible stereotypes, biases and prejudices that stems from my own culture (Truss et al., 2012). I will act as the agent of change within the organization by embracing the willingness to change and challenge institutional practices that might act as barriers to inclusion of different groups of employees in the decision-making process.

As the director, I will be cognizant of the fact that constant recognition and acknowledging of employees diversity is a valuable tool in managing the heterogeneous workforce. It cements an integral management practice that prevents every form of discrimination and helps to enhance inclusiveness of staff members for the common good of the organization.

Achieving a seamless and well-coordinated workforce with varying levels of diversity is not an easy task. Human resource director will not manage alone a diverse workforce, but as a rule of the thumb, through my experience over the years driving an effective diversity initiative requires the input of all the managers, departmental heads, the executive, as well as the support of the employees. I will mobilize the HRM team to spread out the responsibility to all the concerned stakeholders. In this way, better chance to change ill practices, policies, attitudes, and institutional structures will be bolstered.

Employee Motivation

Employee motivation is another important human resource management practice that determines the levels of performance among employees. It is a function that is at the heart of HRM. Employees discharge their duties with much zeal and exclusive self-drive when appropriate motivation mechanisms are implemented within an organization (Biswas, 2013). Their level of commitment and creativity goes up when they are motivated constantly. Since staff is influenced by different factors both intrinsic and extrinsic, finding a right way to motivate them is often a major management concern. As provided for by the leading employee motivation theories, the use of incentives or regular employee involvement in an organization is some important motivation principles human resource managers in most cases use to improve the morale of its workforce.

Based on the cognitive evaluation theory, there are two motivation systems, namely extrinsic and intrinsic. Intrinsic encompass factors such as individual achievement, responsibility and competence among the employees. Essentially, it implies that this form of motivation comes from the actual performance of the given task, an individual employee gets fulfilled in completing tasks to their level best. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is a form of motivation that is practiced in different organizations by the provision of better compensation, gain-sharing, rewards among others. They are the external factors that come from outside, and in most cases, it represents organizational policies put in place to advance the welfare of the employees.

Based on my experience and extensive application of cognitive evaluation theory, I will ensure as a director of HRM the two types of motivation are utilized accordingly. I will ensure the workforce is empowered by giving them more opportunities to contribute to the decision-making process. This increases their realm of control over their assigned tasks as they become better equipped to carry out those given tasks (Gashi, 2013).

As opposed to leaving every idea to originate from the management without giving the employees opportunity to give their input, I will ensure the employees are involved by giving them a chance to create and develop their ideas. Doing this way will motivate them and enrich the organization with a new way of doing things by wisely using the experience of its employees. Besides, this will enhance the exchange of ide...