The service sector uses people as the main tool to offer the services to the customers the best possible way. It is important for the companies to invest in the human asset.
The company has successfully developed its services. From a small family business to a respected company on the field, it plans many events throughout the year, with more than 100 people being actively involved in them. With the expansion though, many problems have emerged. The head management should decide whether to adopt an HRM strategy -since there is no official yet- to come up against with the problems they face with their employees. Nowadays, companies use HRM to exploit their employee’s talents and expertise, in order to maximize their objectives (Mondy and Noe, 2005)
People are the company’s most valuable asset, but only companies that know how to take advantage of them succeed.
ADVANTAGES AND DISAGVANTAGES
PROS
HRM helps the companies build an effective strategy, in terms of recruiting, personnel training, assisting them into a competitive advantage.
The goals (and issues) of the company are achieved when HRM procedures are developed and executed properly based on the needs of it. When that happens, the company gets the competitive advantage against their competitors (Baird and Meshoulam, 1988)
The results can be measured financially (how much money did the event gross) and in terms of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) for the employees of the company and the society in general.
Gives an identity about the company’s profile and culture.
CONS
For companies like EEI, investing in an HRM strategy can be time consuming and costly (either hiring an HR Manager or due to the training required). The time needed to be implemented and accepted can worsen the current bad situation.
Customer driven industry. The company has issues to resolve regarding the human element. Employee satisfaction decreases; and that reflects on the services they provide (Weiss 1999)
Also, factors like financial profitability and marketing exposure can influence the people’s contribution to that and undermine it (Dyer and Reeves et al. 1995, citied in Rogers and Wright et al. 1998).van
Overall, event companies such as EEI should invest in HRM resources, as they would give them the opportunity to handle humans more appropriately.
HRM MODELS
As the company has grown, the needs change. This is why an overall strategy must be developed.
Balance is needed while implementing the models. People working in event companies such as EEI have to meet certain deadlines and procedures while planning the events they are responsible for and during their ?duration?. Moreover, since the company hasn’t had a strategy over the years, things should go step-by-step and don’t apply the hard model of HRM Things often have to be done in a specific way -as the managers say- to maximize the results. That’s why they need to be controlled and get guidance from their supervisors.
On the other hand, though, the higher management team of the company should allow their employees -and mainly the paid full time and often the part time staff- to act freely, improvise for the best of the event’s outcome whey necessary. That’s when they really improve and feel that their opinions and skills value.
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INTERNATIONAL HRM (IHRM)
Since EEI has expanded its operations in other countries aside from the UK, it is important to study the significance of IHRM and how the company can manage its people from oversees.
IHRM is ‘’a set of distinct activities, functions and processes that are directed at attracting, developing, and maintaining the human resources of a multi-national corporation.’’ (Shen 2005, p.83)
It brings more complexity to managing people, as it includes individuals from different cultures, therefore it’s harder to operationalize it (Atkinson et al. 2014). Therefore, EEI must consider the differences in their staff’s diversity when it comes to managing them during the events.
When it comes to managing people from Europe, Brewster et al (1995, cited in Jackson 2002), suggest that these are the factor that the company should focus on: culture and laws of the different EU countries, trade unions involvement and people’s involvement in the enterprise (Jackson 2002).
On the other hand, the approach on managing people in the USA should be different, as it considers motivation to execute given tasks, knowledge of those tasks, and the performance itself, (Argyle 1967, citied in Jackson 2002)
HARD HRM
It is believed that medium sized businesses apply more traditional styles of leadership (Arslan and Stau, 2013).
The fact that EEI has no official HRM strategy doesn’t mean that there isn’t a strategy applied, even unintentionally. After the company’s growth, profitability became the main goal of the management, leaving the people who helped build the company aside. Since the permanent staff feels underpaid and undervalued, it can be argued that a hard HRM approach practiced. It could be also said that the hard approach is implemented for the casual staff and volunteers.
Theory X, as describer by McGregor et al. (1960) indicates that the workers don’t like their jobs, have no ambitions about their evolution within their work environment; and they must be hardly controlled by their superiors and punished when they fail to deliver their job accordingly to the organization’s standards.
It changes the word people with the word employee (Brewster, 1994)
The hard model focuses on creating a strategy and managing the performance of individuals, while using them for achieving the organization’s goals (Alam and Mukherjee, 2014).
Hard HRM practices are linked to the Michigan model. It emphasizes mainly on stakeholders and the short term economic benefits for the company, rather than the employees and the environment, to achieve financial results (Boselie et al. 2013). It tries to find the perfect ‘’link’’ between the business and the HR strategy ( ), using people as ‘’tools’’ to achieve it.
http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/international-business-and-strategy/JHD_DP_2013-010.pdf
SOFT HRM
Theory Y indicates that management should be responsible for their relationships with people working for them (Carson, 2005).
The staff gets full responsibility for the product created. In this case, the quality of the event. (Lorsch and Morse, 1970). They don’t work on their own, not caring about taking permission to perform a task (Hattangadi 2015). They take approval from their supervisors, then they perform their tasks.
Theory Y: employees like their work and are responsible (McGregor 1960, citied in Carson, 2005).
The Harvard model is a soft model of HRM
The Harvard model has helped organizations come closer to their employees and consider them valuable assets (Lobanova and Ozolina-Ozola 2013), and it takes internal and external factors (stakeholders, employees, government, work environment, technology, ethical considerations), all of which interact with the organization to develop the HR strategy for long term results (Beer et al 1984, citied in ).
The issues with managing human beings could be resolved if managers would be eager to urge their employees in the decision making process; also to develop themselves within the organization (Armstrong 2003, citied in ). It is also mentioned that this model this model focuses on mutuality, by promoting mutual goals and policies, bringing better financial and people’s development to the company (Walton 1985, citied in )
https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/bitstream/2134/11549/8/The%20Applicability%20of%20the%20Harvard%20and%20Warwick%20Models.pdf
(The differences between those 2 theories can be seen in appendix).
STRATEGIC HRM
High commitment HRM
For the problems EEI is facing with its employees, the High Commitment model of HRM can be considered a tool to overcome them. “High commitment’ HRM practices are essentially endeavoring to develop committed employees who can be trusted to use their discretion to carry out job tasks in ways that are consistent with organizational goals” (Arthur, 1994, p. 672). By building strong bonds between the company and their employees, raising their trust and achieving the operational goals more efficiently (Lepak and Snell, 2002).
If the employees are highly committed to their jobs and don’t feel undervalued, then they trust more the organization (Searle and colleagues, 2011). This applies with the full-time staff of EEI, since they are the ones who have to deal with the company’s everyday operations more than anybody else. This can pass down hierarchically to the other levels of employees and everyone perform to their fullest potential.
It should also be mentioned that, high commitment results in higher job satisfaction (Gracia and colleagues, 2016)
It is important to separate work engagement with work commitment, since engagement has to do with the performance on the job, while commitment focuses on building a bond with the members of the team (Hallberg & Schaufeli 2006).
ISSUES
LEADERSHIP
Leadership and HRM are highly liked with each other.
Being a manager doesn’t mean that the person is a leader at the same time. Managing different characters within the team is a challenge. Managers must lead as well, not only to delegate labor. They must set a good example, understand the needs and problems their members of their team face.
‘’medium businesses operating in highly competitive markets, the motivation of the employee as well as the leader is critical’’ (Arslan and Stau, et al. 2013).
Strategic HRM focuses on managing people, the values the leader assesses and the project planning (Davidson and colleagues, 2011)
Integration. Managers have to deal with plenty of human resources aspects, such as performance, hiring the proper staff and developing the plan (Van der Wagen, 2007)
. Trust to the managers leads to higher results of the company’s performance (Davis and colleagues 2010). They must gain the trust of the people working as parts of the team. By doing that, they transform into leaders.
Leaders must motivate. If they don’t, their staff will turn up against them. (idiot’s guide to management1)
EEI lacks on leaders. Putting someone in charge doesn’t mean people will be inspired to follow. In order to become leaders, managers must broaden their knowledge and improve the skillset. Within events companies, leaders can be found in all levels of hierarchy (Tassiopoulos, 2010). For EEI, the permanent staff should expand their skills and be given more responsibilities. That way they can feel more committed to the company and perform better.
A good leader doesn’t set the goals of the team alone. He urges the team’s members to set their own objectives and ways to achieve them (Okechukwu, 2017). In events, giving freedom to the teams can boost morale and commitment to delivering the best possible service.
Build the future leaders within the company. That way everyone stays motivated to work harder
CULTURE AND MANAGING DIVERSITY
Organizational culture is a combination of patterns, presumptions and values which help the way people thing and face the problems and challenges in an organization; it has been developed based on past incidents and people (Adewale and Anthonia, 2013).
Organizational trust increases productivity and higher commitment (Abubakar and colleagues, 2014).
Working in a business environment that satisfies their workers is considered the best
Changing the company’s culture is a big challenge for the leadership, since it constitutes the values, aims, communications, patterns and roles. (Denning 2011, citied in Crews and Richard 2013)
More peoples-based company culture, focusing on the humans and not only the results. High engagement for the employees to the decision-making process, and elaboration of meaningful relationships between the members of the team.
A procedure that can lead to changer, according to Lewin (1997, citied on Barsade et al. 2003) is a) identify the need for change, b) bring to the surface all the problems and c) create a new system that would alter the situation and benefit all. For EEI, the priority is to boost the self-confidence of the employees, who feel neglected and try to integrate people with different backgrounds in it.
Creating a fun environment to work at makes people feel happy to come to work every day.
CSR patterns on companies emphasize on doing good in the communities where they are located (Culler 2010).
Emotional labor focuses on the employee’s well being (Johnson & Spector, 2007; Payne, 2009, citied in Dashper 2013).
Emotional labor helps individuals perform better, while in the service sector especially, is a key point to successful people’s service (Ashforth et al. 1993; Grandey et al., 2005, citied in Schiopu 2014).
For the company’s sustainability, commitment and social responsibilities are important (Wood 2002, citied in Gorondutse 2016).
HR can implement CSR practices to achieve great results for the company, its people, the society (Cohen 2010, citied in Awa et al. 2011).
EEI needs to create a working environment which is peoples-driven. Such environments are constructed considering its people’s considerations (Beu et al. 2001), allow them to take initiatives and managers are closer with the members of their team (Jackson 2002).
According to Robinson et al. (1997), diversity can be defined as the ways people are different from one another. Companies needs to have a diverse workforce (Daus et al. 1997). EEI, who has expanded its operations to the EU and USA, and has approximately 200 people working in various events, must deal with a variety of different people, in matters of race, gender, education, beliefs and age. When these differences are managed properly, it causes a competitive advantage to the company (Cornelius 1999). The different characteristics should not be an issue, rather than a tool management use to manage people within the company (Kumar and Patrick 2012).
SHRM for managing cultural diversity. Diversity can give a better understanding of different markets and customer desires, as well as their employees’ preferences and hopes (Mabey et al. 1998). Those differences can be the driving wheel to the company’ success
From the HRM’s perspective, managers should not be afraid to promote women or people from minority ethnic groups, if their performance levels are of high standards. (Chanda et al 2009).
Create an environment free of conflict, which is comfortable and welcomes everyone to join it.
BOOSTING MORALE
Low morale causes people to feel uninterested about their work, especially when their supervisors fail to acknowledge their efforts (Zeynep et al. 2008). The full-time employees feel underrated and don’t get the rewards they think they deserve for what they bring to EEI. Low levels of wellbeing don’t only decrease productivity, but overall health (Deloitte 2017).
Job security affects positively the employees in the service industry (Chow et al. 2007)
SHRM proposes that motivates employees tend to be more productive, and it is advised that the management follows it to achieve high levels of performance (Stephen, 2014).
Motivation can be achieved through regular training, job rotation (assign them into different positions to learn new skills), giving them more responsibilities and take more control of their work (Ganta 2014).
HRM practice, particularly those who promote commitment, increase job satisfaction and overall performance (Applebaum et al. 2000, citied in Mason, 2017).
According to a research conducted by (Cheng-Hua et al. 2009, citied in Belarmino et al. 2017), high performance and commitment strategies in the service sector influence productivity in a positive way. High morale leads to customer satisfaction (Abbott 2003).
It should be addressed that increasing salaries isn’t always the solution to the problem (Whitley, 2002)
The company should promote healthy competition between the people of it. This could be achieved by giving bonuses (monetary, paid vacation etc.) to the person with the highest productivity. But attention should be paid not to compete selflessly, not caring about their consequences of their actions to themselves, their co-workers and the company (Collier et al., 2010).
Caring about their people’s well-being, not only physically, but emotionally as well. By coming closer, they create strong bonds that can positively affect everybody in the company and improve the working environment and overall performance. Earning their trust can motivate them and increase motivation (Baldoni, 2005).
Boosting morale can be achieved when managers are more accessible and open to their teams, as well as acting as role models to them (Also et al. 2006, citied in Hall et al. 2012).
Reward good performances (both in monetary and with non-cash incentives)
Higher management to ask the full-time employees how they can improve their management skills. How to correct what they might be doing wrong all this time and continue to improve to those skills they are better at. Process the information they receive and implement them (Holmes and Smart, 2009).
Training is another way to satisfy employees. Individuals who receive regular training about their jobs improve their skillset and their performance, while at the same time they feel satisfied about themselves and that reflects during the events they work at, as they offer a better experience for the attendees.
RECRUITMENT OF TEMPORARY STAFF
In events, temporary staff is needed most of the times. Recruiting the correct people for a short time is challenging for most of the companies; and EEI is one of them. HRM plays a significant role, since it defines how the right applicants can be attracted to the organization, alongside with the available financial resources planning (Allen et al. 2005).
Companies with powerful CSR policies can ‘’recruit good employees’’ (Mori 2006, citied in Clarke et al. n.d.). The workers must view temporary positions as an opportunity to develop skills and land a permanent position in the future (Greenberger et al. 1997).
After recruitment, training and development are needed (Raj et. al. 2013)
More details on the job description must be mentioned about salary, time of contract, benefits, so the right candidates won’t be afraid to apply (Allen et. al 2005).
During the interview process, ask all the candidates the same questions, starting with more general questions, then proceeding to more job related and challenging questions, to shorten the list (Van der Wagen and White 2010).
The ‘’Geocentric’’ Model can be used to employ people from oversees. It is a flexible approach for the company’s operations, while at the same time it maintains the mission and the set of values. It also enables to establish networks and broadcast knowledge for the international operations Dowling et al. 1991, citied in Stredwick 2014)
The risk of employing unqualified staff can be overcome by establishing long-lasting and meaningful relationships with universities – where event and hospitality students can be hired for temporary positions (they gain experience and enhance their CV)- and hiring agencies (Goldblatt 2011).
In the service sector, high commitment HRM practices are viewed as the best, as it promotes higher performance and better careers opportunities; at the same time, it provided better control (Schneider & Bowen, 1985, citied in Collins et al. 2011).
Emotional labor and aesthetic workplace are two key factors when it comes to recruiting new people, as they take into consideration both the emotions of them, but also their corporeality (Warhurst & Nickson, 2009, citied in Deshper 2013). They are highly associated with the events industry, as employees interacted with numerus people, with potential harm or burnout to occur (Dashper 2013).
Being patient with the people working in the company, to understand that they are different Everybody comes from a different background, so opinions differ. Those differences must be respected, so that everybody can work together in harmony. Also, promote healthy dialogue between the members of the team, so everybody can learn from one another.
Keeping a record while recruiting and hiring new employees and offer equal opportunities to potential staff. When the company creates an image that it, the news spreads and more people will be interested in working for EEI in the future.