7co02 Assignment Example

Moreover, human resource professionals are involved in workforce planning. This encompasses ensuring the organisation has employees with the right skills at the right time. It also encompasses analysing and forecasting the demand and supply of labour in the organisation to prevent the disruption of organisational operations and inefficiencies. This is achieved through succession planning, gap assessments, and contingency planning.

The human resource department helps develop an organisational culture and working environment that advances the organisation’s vision and mission (Martinson & Deleon, 2017). For example, people practice as professionals as change agents and facilitators in influencing people towards supporting the direction of change. Similarly, professionals act as role models in the organisation, which can influence the desired culture. For instance, professionals can exude these values by communicating openly and frequently to inspire a culture of trust, honesty and transparency. In addition, through collaboration and positive working relationships, a trusting culture can be established.

Moreover, people professionals create a working environment where employees can thrive and contribute to attaining company goals and objectives (Davidescu et al., 2020). This encompasses providing relevant furniture, painting with bright colours and ensuring good aeration. A good working environment elicits positive feelings from employees and enhances job satisfaction and productivity. They also play an advisory role by sinning in organisations’ management boards as employee representatives.

My organisation has also adopted vertical integration by managing employee performance management (Christina et al., 2017). This is crucial in ensuring the alignment of employees’ work with the organisation’s goals, vision and mission. For example, people professionals are involved in setting employees’ objectives and supporting their development journey through learning and development. This ensures that employees are skilled and capable of doing their job effectively. In addition, people professionals provide rewards to reinforce positive behaviours among employees and to motivate workers to improve their performance.

However, implementing vertical integration has also had some challenges. For instance, there has been consistency in access to the information within the HR department. This leads to a loss of transparency and trust. In addition, there is a need for clarity regarding the company’s human resource management roles and responsibilities. The need for more credibility in the human resource profession ad capability to provide strategic support is also a challenge.

In conclusion, my organisation has embraced the concept of vertical integration by ensuring that human resource management practices are aligned with the company’s goals and objectives. The human resource department helps manage employee performance, providing rewards, organisational design, and training and development. While it is beneficial, it has also faced some challenges, such as a lack of clarity of hr roles and responsibilities and lack of credibility.

Question 6

Agreeably, employees are the greatest resource an organisation can have and, when effectively managed, can contribute to team productivity and organisational performance. In addition, in a fast-paced world that is also becoming increasingly competitive, organisations must ensure they attract and engage their employees to remain passionate and enthusiastic about their jobs and the organisation. Numerous studies have drawn a direct relationship between employee happiness and team productivity. For instance, a study by Oxford Business school established that happier employees are 13% more productive than unhappy employees (University of Oxford, 2019). This is collaborated by a subsequent study by Corporate India, which shows happier employees deliver 60% more quality work and are 18% more productive (Pahuja, 2022). In this report, I argue that employee happiness contributes to positive emotions, relationships, job satisfaction, innovation and creativity and retention, improving team productivity (Gable, 2022).

PERMA Model

According to the PERMA model, employees who are happy at work develop a sense of meaning in their lives and work and experience enhanced physical and mental health. Happiness at work protects employees from experiencing negative feelings about their job demands which can prevent work-related stress (Gable, 2022). Similarly, happy employees are more likely to experience work-life balance, which translates to better physical well-being, improved concentration at work and higher productivity

 Teamwork, collaboration and social cohesion

Happier employees experience better teamwork, collaboration and social cohesion (Gable, 2022). This is because positive emotions such as happiness are closely associated with improved interpersonal relationships and social interactions. Moreover, happier employees are more approachable and likely to get along with others than unhappy employees (Pahuja, 2022). Consequently, this leads to the development of a sense of belonging among employees, higher engagement and improved collaboration, which builds teamwork and productivity.

On the other hand, unhappy employees are less likely to collaborate with team members in pursuing common goals. Instead, they will likely pursue personal goals and interests that contrast with the organisation. This not only slows the team’s performance but also affects customer satisfaction and the attainment of company goals. Moreover, unhappy employees are less likely to resolve conflicts and disputes amicably, negatively affecting team cohesion and productivity.

Employee happiness improves job satisfaction and retention.

Employee happiness leads to greater job satisfaction (Gable, 2022). In particular, employee happiness can be a vital predictor of what employees think about their work and organisation. Happier employees indicate that they are content with their work and their organisation. This also translates to increased commitment to their work and organisation and discretionary behaviours, which enhance performance at work. Besides, it is essential to note that satisfied employees are less likely to leave the organisation than dissatisfied employees.in addition, employee job satisfaction and retention lead to factor completion of team projects, increased team efficiency since there are fewer mistakes and improved loyalty and morale.

When employees are dissatisfied, they are likely to demonstrate low performance and intentions to leave in search of better job experience among competitors (Aldana, 2022). Achieving high retention in the organisation is essential in ensuring that highly skilled and talented employees stay. Loss of knowledge can contribute to decreased team efficiency, morale, and poor productivity.

 Happier employees deliver better customer service.

A direct relationship between team happiness and better customer service can be drawn, which also impacts overall organisational performance. Happy and cheerful employees give customers a positive impression before, during, and even after their interactions and communications (Aldana, 2022). The aforementioned leads to improve customer experience and loyalty. In particular, happier employees are more likely to maintain a positive attitude when interacting with customers when they are negative. In addition, they are more likely to offer helpful information to customers, prioritise customer needs and follow up to answer queries. Unhappy employees, on the other hand, are likely to be rude or demonstrate negative behaviours among customers.

It is, however, important to emphasise that more than team happiness is needed to translate to team productivity. People professionals must focus on other elements that affect team productivity, such as skills and competence (HR Daily Advisor, 2018). For example, training and development programs ensure that employees are upskilled and reskilled and, therefore, more effective at work and report fewer mistakes. In addition, it enhances their creativity and innovation, which improves their overall tea performance (HR Daily Advisor, 2018).

According to Belbin’s Team roles theory, professionals must ensure that teams are comprised of team members with the right skills and abilities (Channell, 2021). This allows them to complement each other and enhance team productivity.

Similarly, team performance may be affected by leadership and the presence or absence of a team mission and vision (Aldana, 2022). In the absence of a vision, mission or goal that a team is working towards, each member may pursue their own goals and limit collaboration and efficiency. Similarly, a lack of proper leadership in the team could give room for the development of conflicts due to power struggles and a lack of clarity regarding each team member’s responsibilities. Besides, micromanaging and lack of job autonomy may aggravate work-related stress for team members and crease their happiness and satisfaction in their jobs and the organisation. Ultimately this could contribute to low productivity and poor tea performance.

Notably, several factors affect team happiness that people practice. Professionals should focus on improving the work environment. A dull or ugly working environment with poor aeration leads to unmotivated and unhappy employees and can decrease their productivity. People professionals should create an attractive and visually appealing work environment where employees feel less depressed, happier and more productive. A good working environment may be enhanced by repainting walls with vibrant colours, adding stylish furniture, adding creative work and ensuring proper aeration and lighting.

In conclusion, the report established that a direct link exists between team happiness and team productivity. This is because happier teams are found to have a better sense of meaning in their jobs; they value teamwork, collaboration and cohesion and promote job satisfaction and retention. Besides, happier teams deliver better customer service. However, the report observed that team productivity is not promoted by employee happiness but also by other factors such as training and development, leadership and the presence of a mission and vision, as well as the workplace environment.

Question 12

Extent to which the organisations voice channels provide employees with meaningful voice and my advice about improving effectiveness of the current voice channels.

Introduction

According to the Chartered Institute of Professional Development, employee voice is the opportunities employee are provided with to express their ideas, perspectives and concerns with authenticity to influence decision-making and policies that impact their work (CIPD, 2022). Employee voice implies that the organisation’s leaders dialogue with employees and act on the feedback provided. This could be through embracing their ideas and innovations, improving the organisation’s culture and resolving workplace issues. Employee voice has significant advantages for employees and the organisation. It ensures employees feel valued and appreciated and improves engagement, motivation, productivity, retention, and the organisation’s brand, making it easier to attract and recruit talented candidates (Woodfield, 2022). Notably, my organisation which specialises in retail, provides numerous voice channels. This report explores the extent to which these channels provide employees with a voice and how the current voice channels can be enhanced.

Notably, my organisation accommodates both direct and indirect forms of employee voice. Direct employee voice entails employees’ opportunities to influence decision-making by themselves, not through representatives. My organisation also provides for indirect employee voice, where employees share their collective voice through trade unions and non-union representation. Some of the direct and indirect mechanisms available to contribute voice in my organisation are discussed below.

Face-to-face team meetings 

Senior leaders in my organisation organise regular face-to-face team meetings with employees intending to communicate changes and developments that have taken place in the organisation (Sinclair, 2022). Similarly, the senior leaders use the face to face meetings to gather feedback, concerns, ideas and questions from employees on a wide range of issues in the organisation. In addition, volunteers among employees may be requested to participate in further discussions regarding improving the workplace and ensuring the efficiency of workplace processes.

Face-to-face meetings are an effective approach to employee voice in my organisation for various reasons. To begin with, they demonstrate genuine commitment from the organisation’s leadership to gather employee feedback and opinions regarding how the workplace should be improved (Kat, 2022). Furthermore, they establish an open line of communication where employees can get instant answers to their queries and offer a better chance at building open and trusting relationships between employees and the organisation’s management. Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that face-to-face meetings have also had some challenges, particularly about scheduling and finding appropriate dates when all employees are available. Furthermore, being poorly organised and lacking an agenda can lead to time wastage.

Employee engagement/ satisfaction surveys

Employee engagement and satisfaction surveys allow the organisation to measure and assess the extent to which employees are satisfied and engaged to perform to their best at work. In addition, they provide the organisation with insights towards employee attitudes and thoughts regarding their work and the organisation at large. This allows for implementing requisite interventions and corrections to promote satisfaction, performance and retention.

Administering engagement and satisfaction surveys has specific benefits for employees and the organisation. For the organisation, engagement and satisfaction surveys provide timely insights into the needs and frustrations of employees (Miller, 2020). this allows interventions to be implemented on time before employees develop turnover intentions. In addition, employee surveys can be customised to fit the specific issue the organisation want to get feedback about. To employees, engagement and satisfaction surveys allow employees to share their voice on issues they would have been afraid to speak up about during team and face-to-face meetings. Employee engagement and satisfaction surveys also benefit employees by ensuring they feel well-represented and valued for their contributions. This improves their morale and performance at work.

However, it is also worth mentioning that employee engagement and satisfaction surveys also have limitations, as experienced in my organisation. For instance, they damage employee morale whenever it is perceived that the feedback given is not Talen seriously and no corrections have been made (Miller, 2020). Similarly, poorly worded questions have often led to the provision of vague answers by employees, which are prone to misinterpretation. In addition, some employees fail to complete the survey questions, skew the results.

Ideas street/social

This refers to a mechanism for supporting employee voice in my organisation where employees are invited to share their ideas and opinions, which are then posted online for co-workers to view, interrogate and vote for them (MacLeod & Clarke, 2021). Ideas that receive significant support from employees are then considered for implementation. This approach has been effective in activating employee voice because it allows for the best ideas to be considered and implemented with the consent of all employees. In addition, it enhances creativity and innovation as employees constantly look for new ways to improve the organisation. However, a vast amount of data is generated, which makes it difficult for co-workers and the management to determine feedback and ideas worth consideration.

Trade Unions

My organisation takes a pluralist approach to employee relations and provides opportunities for indirect voice through trade unions. In particular, the organisation recognises the role trade unions play in helping resolve conflicts at work and improving the working conditions and terms of work for employees (Bryson, 2020). For instance, the organisation collaborates with the trade unions by acting on its feedback to enhance workplace safety and promote employee wellbeing. For example, recently, the recognised trade union for my organisation facilitated the implementation of a workplace safety and wellbeing training program. This not only contributed to the reduction of workplace accidents but also improved the productivity of employees. Furthermore, employees have, in the past, through the trade union, negotiated a collective bargaining agreement for the organisation to provide higher pay and prevent extension of working hours by the management.

Notably, employee satisfaction and engagement surveys feedback have revealed that employees are happy and satisfied with the available employee voice channels. Employees feel that the organisation values and appreciates their feedback, which is also acted upon. Furthermore, employee satisfaction can also be interpreted from employee retention data. For instance, the organisation has reported the highest retention levels compared to competitors. This also implies employees have developed a sense of ownership and commitment to the organisations.

Recommendations

While this report has stashed that the current employee voice channels can provide a meaningful voice to employees, there still exists room for improvement. To this end, the organisation should;

Recognise and reward employee participation (Wong, 2020). Employees sharing their feedback should be appreciated to repeat the action in future. The benefit of this is that employees will feel appreciated and incentivised to continue sharing their input. Rewards could include gifts, awards, coupons, and thank-you notes. Barriers include lack of goodwill from the organisations leadership who may perceive the process as cumbersome.

The organisation should provide more transparency (Wong, 2020). This includes offering open and honest communication regarding the organisation’s development. The benefits of this is that it will prevent ambiguity and loss of trust, which would limit employees from sharing their voices. Notably, barriers include lack of a clear communication channels and goodwill from the leadership.

The organisation should also ensure that the senior leaders in the organisation set the right tone and climate for sharing employee voices (Investors in People, 2019). Leaders who are intimidating and micromanaging may discourage employees from sharing feedback for fear of retribution. Instead, the leaders should participate in trust-building conversations and other actions that break down hierarchies. Possible barriers include lack of training for senior leadership on how to create the right climate. In addition,  the hierarchical organisational structure may be a barrier to employee voice.

In conclusion, employee voice is important in organisations. It ensures employees feel valued and appreciated and can influence their motivation, performance and decision to stay or leave the organisation. My organisation provides numerous employee voice mechanisms, including employee satisfaction and engagement surveys, face-to-face meetings, ideas streets/social spaces, and trade unions. Nevertheless, improvements should be implemented to ensure leaders set the right tone and climate for employee voice, promoting transparency and rewarding employees who share their feedback.

Question 17

Ethical concerns when analysing internal organisational data and how they can be addressed

People analytics has increasingly become an emerging form of innovation in the organisation. In particular, it allows for gathering, analysing and visualising complex information about employees, teams and the entire workforce to develop actionable insights that can be used to implement effective interventions (Edquist et al., 2022). Notably, the Data Protection Act 2018 in the United Kingdom guides the implementation of the European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Legislation.gov.uk, n.d.). The law provides that employees’ data must be used legally, transparently and fairly for explicit purposes (Legislation.gov.uk, n.d.). The law also provides that such data should be accurate and up to date, handled in a way that underscores its security against unauthorised access and should not be kept longer than necessary. This report investigates ethical issues that may arise with analysing internal organisational data on employee absenteeism and effective for addressing these ethical issues.

It is important to note that employees need time in different instances and for various reasons, such as short-term or long-term health issues. It is therefore important for the organisation to develop an effective absence management framework to support workers’ health needs and a consistent strategy for preventing unauthorised employee absence or misuse o employee sick pay schemes. Nevertheless, several ethical issues arise, as discussed below;

Risk of unfairness and discrimination

When analysing employee absence data, there are risks of using the data to uncover patterns of employee absenteeism (Goldbrich, 2022). This is particularly when the data is used to inform decisions such as recruitment, promotions and pay raises. Notably, this decision-making approach may be perceived as unfair and discriminative. Moreover, it may lead to a negative working environment where employee absenteeism. It is used to discriminate against some employees.

Risk of misinterpretation and inaccurate conclusions 

When organisations use employee data to inform decision-making, there is unethical concern that the data may lead to misinterpretation and development of inaccurate and biased assumptions about employees’ commitment to their work and the organisation (Suff, 2022). In particular, the risk is aggravated when employees do not consent and are not allowed to explain their absences. For instance, such employees may be considered unfairly for redundancies or dismissals.

When analysing employee absence data, there is a risk of unfairly classifying the cause of employee absence. Consequently, in the absence of complete information, employee absenteeism may be deemed unauthorised and recommended for disciplinary action when such absenteeism was caused by a disability, stress or mental health issue. This would then predispose the organisation to a dispute and claim with the employment tribunal.

Breach of employee privacy

When analysing employee absence data, there is an ethical concern about violating employee privacy (Lee, 2020). This may arise when employees need to be made aware that the organisation is using their absenteeism data to make decisions that may impact their work. Besides, some employees may want to remain reserved and not have their private health information accessed by the organisation.

Violating of the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 (AMRA)

When analysing employee absence data, there is a risk of violating the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 (AMRA) (Suff, 2022). The law provides that an employer or any individual can access medical reports supplied by a medical professional for employment or insurance purposes. In addition, the law requires that consent must be given to the employer or medical practitioner by the employee to view the report. As a result, accessing employee medical records to validate the cause of employee absenteeism without their consent would be an ethical violation.

Breach of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA)

There is a risk of violating the Data Protection Act of 2018 during the gathering and analysis of employee absence information (Suff, 2022). This encompasses information relating to employee health. For instance, it would be a breach of DPA if the absence data was gathered without the employees’ consent. In addition, it would also be a breach of DPA if I processed employees’ data without their consent. Furthermore, there is a risk that employees’ personal information may be accessed by an unauthorised third party leading to a breach of DPA and contributing to a potential claim by employees.

Addressing the ethical concerns

One way to ensure that ethical concerns, such as a breach of DPA 2018, are addressed is by only collecting and using the specific employee information required. Moreover, I would ensure that the data is stored in a safe system to prevent data leaks or access to employee personal information, such as health status, by an unauthorised third party (Lee et al., 2016).

The law provides that employees must offer consent for personal data to be used by the employer. As a result, I would encourage the protection of employee’s privacy rights by ensuring that information provided to me has been consented to by employees (Ebert et al., 2021). The aforementioned could entail developing a detailed data privacy notice for consent by employees detailing the type of data to be analysed, the purpose of processing the data and the period the human resource department will retain it pending erasure.