People Management Is A Subset Of Human Resource Management Management Essay

People management is a subset of human resource management, which deals with strategic, financial and policy issues, as well as people management. People are the most valuable resource that any organization has, but managing them can be a very daunting task. Unlike other resources, human resources are not static. Likely problems that the organization is expected to face due to improper management of people are absenteeism, behavioural problems like ego clashes and mood swings, and improper output with respect to what they can actually deliver. Managing people properly is a boon to any organization: production and output go up, sales go up, and costs are cut. The benefits are manifold

About Apple:

The organisation chosen for research is Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation, led by CEO Steve Jobs, that designs and manufactures consumer electronics and computer software products. The company’s best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, the iPod and the iPhone. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system, the iTunes media browser, the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software, the iWork suite of productivity software, Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products, and Logic Studio, a suite of audio tools. The company operates more than 250 retail stores in nine countries and an online store where hardware and software products are sold.

Vision and Mission Statement:

“Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.”

Section2:-

Research:

People management:

2.1: Structure and culture:

Organization Structure:

Organization structure defines an organization’s internal setup and its hierarchies. Using this, the company shows its authority, employee accountability and work flow structures. Everyone in the organization is appraised on who they need to report to and who needs to report to them. Using the organizational structure, the company is able to allocate and apportion its manpower resources most optimally. All of them work towards achieving organizational goals. The organizational structure provides the company the framework for classifying its employees. The employees are grouped as leaders and those not in leadership roles, and the organization is able to take relevant steps to nurture their talents accordingly.

Culture:

Culture is the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. Today, the culture is influenced by the many groups of people that now make up the country.

Organizational culture:

Organizations — just like countries — have their own cultures. Asim Khan, CEO of the Business Management Group, defines organizational culture as operational principles that provide a context for the way people behave — including their values, beliefs and assumptions — in a company. Organizational culture promotes a sense of shared purpose that starts during the recruitment phase and carries on with retention practices. If the individual can’t work within the organizational culture, conflicts will arise. Organizational culture is a core component, so it is important that everyone from the CEO to the security guards understand the concept. Explaining it to a wide range of people may seem difficult, but if you break it into steps, it is manageable.

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2.2: Leadership styles:

Leaders come in many varieties and each typically has its own style and personality. What works to motivate one type of employee is usually different for the next employee. Successful managers know when to change their management styles, as well as what works for each particular situation. The different management styles affect the workplace and employees in their own unique way.

Democratic Style: Democratic leaders typically seek the team’s input and opinions before making decisions. This type of leadership style is also called participative and it may work to motivate employees by letting them know that their contributions matter.

Autocratic Style: Autocratic leaders tend to operate under absolute power and are similar to dictators. They typically dominate their subordinates and rely on their strong personalities to force others to do as they order. These types of leaders do not typically take suggestions from others.

Transformational Style: When an organization undergoes a dramatic change, such as replacing the executive level staff, transformational leaders can motivate the workforce. A transformational leader is often a passionate visionary who exudes charisma. The transformational leadership style is rare and naturally inspires others to follow.

2.3: Corporate Social responsibility:

“CSR is a process with the aim to embrace responsibility for the company’s actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as stakeholders.”

Approach to CSR:

Organisations need to embrace the core values that make it a “cool” company. Developing a CSR strategy around neither a sense of obligation nor calculation but rather around certain well-defined character virtues is highly effective. In particular, integrity, empathy and zeal, among others, are critical during times of uncertainty; they need to be well coordinated and implemented from the inside-out-not the other way around.

Integrity: Any major organizational change is accompanied by insecurity. The transition from Authoritarian approach of hiring and firing is bound to create uncertainty among employees, and in corporate environments uncertainty inevitably creates second guessing at middle management levels. It should start from inside, promoting trust and openness, the internal integrity.

Empathy: Empathy creates emotional bonding between the company and stakeholders allowing companies to endure a difficult time.

Zeal: Zeal is perhaps the virtue most-embedded at every company’s core and is represented by their continuous innovation and excitement in terms of products and customer experience.

2.4: Ethical Practices:

All employees contribute to company’s reputation; therefore, it is important that all employees adhere to ethical guidelines. Always follow these principles:

Business Integrity: Suppliers shall not offer or accept bribes or other means to obtain an undue or improper advantage. Suppliers must uphold fair business standards in advertising, sales, and competition.

Disclosure of Information: Suppliers must accurately record and disclose information regarding their business activities, structure, financial situation, and performance in accordance with applicable laws and regulations and prevailing industry practices.

Whistle-blower Protection and Anonymous Complaints: Suppliers shall create programs to ensure the protection of Supplier and worker whistle-blower confidentiality and prohibit retaliation against workers who participate in such programs in good faith or refuse an order that is in violation of the Code of Conduct.

Community Engagement: Suppliers are encouraged to engage the community to help foster social and economic development and to contribute to the sustainability of the communities in which they operate.

Protection of Intellectual Property: Suppliers must respect intellectual property rights and safeguard customer information; transfer of technology and know-how must be done in a manner that protects intellectual property rights.

2.5: Leadership styles:

The management and leadership styles analysed below, are approaches which are likely to be implemented by every organisation.

Blake and Mouton’s Management Grid:

‘The management grid identifies a range of management behaviours based on various ways that task-oriented and employee-orientated styles can interact with each other.’

McGregor’s Theory X and Y:

According to Douglas McGregor (1960) in developing theories X and Y, managers took two different views of their subordinates and conducted practices that would best suit their assumption of the workers.

Theory X managers, use directive approach to leadership and are very strict and controlling with their subordinates. Organisational goals already established and workers are pushed in a certain direction so that these goals can be fully achieved.

Theory Y managers will work together with subordinates, deciding work objectives and by developing strategies designed to achieve these goals. They will encourage team working and also delegate decision making when and where possible.

2.6: Development of workforce:

Workforce development links staff learning and development to other human resource and business activities which includes strategic workforce planning.

Strategic workforce planning:

“Strategic workforce planning is the process of analysing and forecasting the talent an organization will need to achieve its strategic objectives.”

It is a critical activity that helps identify, develop, and sustain necessary workforce skills while satisfying the career and lifestyle goals of employees. Workforce planning is fundamentally a business-focused strategic exercise that is best completed within the annual business and strategic planning processes.

Strategic workforce planning is different. Instead of focusing on short-term needs and reactive hiring, the emphasis is placed on matching strategic requirements with long-term talent trends, external market influences and proactive planning. Most importantly, it provides a critical link between strategy and human resources (HR) interests, helping to ensure that HR programs and services are truly relevant. Strategic workforce planning helps ensure that an organization has the right people – with the right skills in the right places at the right time and at the right price – to fulfil its mandate. Greater levels of workforce planning sophistication increase strategic alignment to business objectives:

Section 3:-

Report:

3.1: Organisational structure and its impact on people:

The organizational structure of Apple is flat. There are not many layers. Every department was being looked after by Steve Jobs and now by new CEO Tim Cook. This is a company that grew extremely fast in little time, that their management found themselves not being able to keep their operations and finances under control. Apple Inc. has been forced to re-evaluate and redesign its organizational culture and organizational structure to avoid bankruptcy. The organizational structure of the company has also transformed to be more competitive in a critical juncture in the company’s history.

3.2: Organisational culture and its impact on workforce:

The culture of Apple was based on an ideal that self-motivated individuals will work harder if they do not have a boss micromanaging every action. The unique structure of Apple had allowed it to grow and react more quickly to changes than its competitors. The reason for the quick responsiveness is simple; it is much easier to get a project started if there are only a few people to obtain approval from. Apple initially grew fast, because decisions were made at the lowest possible level. Corporate headquarters made policy and oversaw all activities, but the local employees made the day-to-day decisions on the ground in countries all over the world. This type of top-down philosophy allowed for quick responsiveness and resolutions to situations without involving the corporate headquarters, thus avoiding corporate red tape (Mc Shane and Travglione, 2005, pp 89-290).

To separate employees from customers at Apple, employees wear a uniform. Customers are then able to establish who work for the company in case they need any help or advice about in-store products. Generally, the colours that are worn by the employees are blue and black.

3.3: Leadership styles:

A manager’s leadership style creates the climate within which employees work and influences the attitude and performance of his team. A manager will have a preferred style, but this will not be appropriate in every situation. To be effective, managers must learn to adapt their leadership style to the circumstances and in response to the employees they manage. Here are the six leadership styles Goleman uncovered among the managers he studied, as well as a brief analysis of the effects of each style on the corporate climate:

The pacesetting leader expects and models excellence and self-direction. The pacesetting style works best when the team is already motivated and skilled, and the leader needs quick results.

The authoritative leader mobilizes the team toward a common vision and focuses on end goals, leaving the means up to each individual. The authoritative style works best when the team needs a new vision because circumstances have changed, or when explicit guidance is not required.

The affiliative leader works to create emotional bonds that bring a feeling of bonding and belonging to the organization. The affiliative style works best in times of stress, when teammates need to heal from a trauma, or when the team needs to rebuild trust.

The coaching leader develops people for the future. The coaching style works best when the leader wants to help teammates build lasting personal strengths that make them more successful overall.

The coercive leader demands immediate compliance. The coercive style is most effective in times of crisis, such as in a company turnaround or a takeover attempt, or during an actual emergency like a tornado or a fire.

The democratic leader builds consensus through participation. The democratic style is most effective when the leader needs the team to buy into or have ownership of a decision, plan, or goal, or if he or she is uncertain and needs fresh ideas from qualified teammates.

3.4: Benefits of flexible working practices to individuals and organisation:

Sholarios and Marks (2004), (as cited by Bratton & Gold, 2007, pg.149) suggested that in this highly competitive labour market, in order to attract and retain staff, work-life policies and procedures are a must for any organisation. Strategic Direction (2008) explained that organisations that take a strategic view of flexible working practises are more likely to succeed and flexible working should be viewed as a business tool which in turn allows employers to get more value from their best asset; the employee.

In contrast, Hall & Atkinson (2006) suggested that flexible working whether formal or informal, is merely another management control in disguise, as workers who feel empowered and valued in the workplace will produce a higher standard of work and allow workers to take on more responsibility. Whilst the empowerment moves the control from the manager to the employee, this often results in more pressure on the employee to perform. Professional bodies have asserted that flexible working can assist both organisations and workers in organising work more effectively and thus reducing stress at work.

3.5: Impact of ethical practices on motivation level of staff:

The ethical climate of an organization can have both positive and negative impacts on employee job satisfaction. Unethical workplace behaviours create chaos and impact the organization in a variety of ways. The list below gives you seven examples of unethical practices by employees and leaders.

Unfair behaviour towards employees

Abuse of cell phones and internet

Calling in sick when not sick

Given credit that wasn’t deserved

Theft of time

Inappropriate relationships

Leaders who sweep problems under the rug

Motivation level impacts the organization on many levels. Low levels of job satisfaction lead to low motivation, decreased productivity and increased turnover. Dishonest management practices lead workers to be suspicious of their leaders. The most successful organizations include high ethical standards at all levels of the organization.

For any organization to have strong ethics they must understand the key points. The points below must be part of any ethics policy and procedures. You will then be on your way to building an ethical workplace.

5 key points that every Ethics policy must have:

Detailed and well defined in the form of a manual.

Provide training for new and current employees.

Use ethic policy for guidance.

Ability to learn from mistakes.

Zero tolerance

3.7: Use of CSR to motivate employees:

Employees are motivated by corporate social responsibility (CSR). The integration of social, environmental, and economic improvement through CSR makes workplaces sounder. Below are the some ways to motivate the workforce through CSR.

Let employees participate in all the social activities done outside the company.

Let employees’ lead volunteer and charity efforts in the local areas.

Recognize attitude of the employees towards their job to raise the commitment and motivation level.

Encourage employee referrals to help retain and recruit talent.

Bring CSR inside the company to develop employees inside the company through training and tuition.

A strong CSR program can be significant in motivating employees to not only keep going to work but also showing up with real purpose.

Every employee that the executive team acknowledges should get a handshake and personal thanks.

3.8: Management styles to deal with difference in behaviour:

Theory X and Theory Y have to do with the perceptions managers hold on their employees, not the way they generally behave. It is attitude not attributes.

Theory X:

In this theory, management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can and that they inherently dislike work. As a result of this, management believes that workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. A hierarchical structure is needed with narrow span of control at each and every level.Theory X managers rely heavily on threat and coercion to gain their employees’ compliance. Beliefs of this theory lead to mistrust, highly restrictive supervision, and a punitive atmosphere.

Theory Y:

In this theory, management assumes employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and exercise self-control. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties. They possess the ability for creative problem solving, but their talents are underused in most organizations. Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to do well at work. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation.

3.9: Motivation theories:

The most commonly held views or theories are discussed below and have been developed over the last 100 years or so.

Taylor:

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 – 1917) put forward the idea that workers are motivated mainly by pay. His Theory of Scientific Management argued the following:

Workers do not naturally enjoy work and so need close supervision and control. Therefore managers should break down production into a series of small tasks. Workers should then be given appropriate training and tools so they can work as efficiently as possible on one set task. Workers are then paid according to the number of items they produce in a set period of time- piece-rate pay. As a result workers are encouraged to work hard and maximise their productivity.

Mayo:

Elton Mayo (1880 – 1949) believed that workers are not just concerned with money but could be better motivated by having their social needs met whilst at work (something that Taylor ignored). He introduced the Human Relation School of thought, which focused on managers taking more of an interest in the workers, treating them as people who have worthwhile opinions and realising that workers enjoy interacting together.

Maslow:

Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970) along with Frederick Herzberg (1923-) introduced the Neo-Human Relations School in the 1950’s, which focused on the psychological needs of employees. Maslow put forward a theory that the five levels of human needs which employees need to have fulfilled at work are psychological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualisation. All of the needs are structured into a hierarchy and only once a lower level of need has been fully met, would a worker be motivated by the opportunity of having the next need up in the hierarchy satisfied.

3.10: Benefits of training and development to individuals and organisation:

Increased job satisfaction and morale among employees. This has an added benefit of making your company more attractive to prospective employees.

More motivated workers, which in turn tends to increase productivity and spur profits.

More effective and efficient use of workers’ time as a result of higher skill levels, combined with a better understanding of the job function.

Employees who know they are competent, and therefore feel more confident. Self-assured, well-trained employees are important in the debt collection function.

An increase from employees in the number of ideas, recommendations and suggestions for improving performance, or processes and procedures.

Lower overall employee turnover and less absenteeism.

3.11: People management strategies used in organisations:

Here are some key strategic factors on the management of people to reinforce the importance of them to businesses.

1. Understanding the competitive advantage they can gain from employing good people.

2. Developing people management strategies, structures and practices that align with the overall business strategy.

3. Attracting, training and retaining key people through effective recruitment processes.

4. Active leadership from business owners and managers through clear organizational communication.

5. Effective recognition and reward systems, including performance reviews and feedback.

6. Essential human resource systems to meet legislative requirements regarding employing people to ensure the business will avoid expensive litigation and employment problems.

Conclusion and Recommendations:

In conclusion we can argue that the human resource aspect of any organisation can be seen as the greatest asset for an organisation. However neither the knowledge of this resource or knowledge about this resource should be seen as static, instead for organisational strategies to be effective they must be dynamic and adapt to be external changes in the environment as well as internal information concerning this human resource. What we found to be the most interesting about Apple is how they are very innovative and early adapters. Apple is usually the first company to come out with a new product line before anyone else. This is very risky but it seems to be working to Apples advantage. This shows that taking risks can sometimes make or break you. But Apple needs to work in the following areas:

Collaborate with more technology related industries and companies.

Aim for more interaction with customers.

Make the iMac more compatible.

Loosen the closed ecosystem approach.