HR’s Role and Impact

It is indeed vital for any company to realize the importance of the HR department because the management of human capital is necessary to achieve business goals. Being the new HR Manager, I have conducted a detailed review of various departments in terms of human capital management. I have found that the entity needs multifaceted improvements in multiple areas. The proposed HR plan would help the employees synchronize their personal objectives with the company’s goals; moreover, it would bring considerable improvements in the HR policies of the organization through the incorporation of researched-based international best practices.

The Value of a Performance Management Program

A comprehensive performance management program is critical for entities. It brings considerable value as recent research has proved that 83% of employees working in firms having a good reward and recognition system state that they are content with their position. Similarly, 69% of employees would work harder if they are cognizant that their work is appreciated. Half of the businesses that have performance management mechanism experience about a 50% rise in employee engagement (Hearn, 2018). The research shows that a performance management program brings improvement in employee performance and engagement.

Various Performance Management Programs Considered

I have analyzed various performance management systems to find recommendations. The famous company, Google uses the “Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) system”(Valamis, 2020). Google has revolutionized the goal-setting system and achieved good results (Valamis, 2020). Similarly, Cargill is a Minnesota-based food firm that uses the “Everyday Performance Management system”. As evident from its name the system is capable of managing and evaluating performance continuously (Valamis, 2020). I think my proposed system would contain the good points of both of these systems.

A Rationale for My Selection of Different Aspects of the Plan

I have reviewed many research articles and cases of large and small organizations to finalize my plan. The proposed plan begins with overhauling the recruitment process so that company hires only the most suitable persons. The induction of the right persons would significantly improve the human capital pool. Moreover, they would remain with the company for a longer period which would save the recruitment cost. Now our company would use the blend of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) system and the Everyday Performance Management system. I have evaluated the reports from Google and Cargill. Moreover, I have further refined the system which would align employees’ individual goals with our entity’s objectives. I understand that it is not an easy task because it would involve many officials of HR as mentors. I foresee that some employees might not be very cooperative. I have a strategy to deal with non-cooperative and jealous employees. According to a renowned Stanford psychologist, Robert Sutton employees should keep their emotions under control when coworkers offer inappropriate comments (Ward, 2017). It is a sad fact that the company has to fire some of the unresponsive people to move ahead with the proposed system.

How the Organization Will Address the Three Key Areas

I would recommend tailor-made strategies to manage appraisals; improve employee performance, and align individual performance to the entity. As discussed in previous sections, our company would now conduct performance appraisals on a more frequent basis. According to Harvard Business Review, frequent feedback from managers is vital to improve the performance of employees; moreover, it is a factor in growth (Cappelli & Tavis, 2016). To improve performance, I would link financial rewards with improved performance. The alignment of employees’ goals with that of the company and department is not easy. For this purpose, I would assign mentors to employees so that it is dealt with on a case-to-case basis. I am sure this comprehensive approach would overcome all the challenges.

A Communication Plan for Informing All Employees

I am not expecting that all employees would welcome the new human capital management system because humans tend to resist change. Especially, in the current environment of COVID-19, employees are under stress; therefore, I have a proper plan to mitigate the stress of employees regarding the new plan. With the approval of higher management, I would link the achievement of various benchmarks by employees with financial and non-monetary incentives. The announced rewards would decrease the resistance of employees. The new policies would be communicated to workers through a letter issued by the CEO so that employees take it seriously. The letter would give details of plans along with important deadlines so that organization achieves results in a specified time.

Training That Will Be Provided to Employees and Managers

Since the proposed plan brings revolutionary changes, the company would arrange training of employees and managers. The HR staff would appraise the employees about the features, benefits, and modalities of the new program. I plan to offer both types of training online and offline. Moreover, individual sessions would be conducted for employees who are in need of extra coaching. Employees would be taught psychological tricks to manage stress as well.

The Additional Issues/Challenges

I would like to emphasize the importance of goal setting for individual employees because I fear that it would be challenging. Departmental managers need to set goals that suit departmental and organizational needs. When a goal does not meet employees’ personal needs, the intrinsic motivation to work for it is lacking. Therefore, it is an important area of my proposed plan. Departmental leaders must formulate what the end goal is and then work out in steps how they will reach the end goal. Goals must be tailored to the firm’s needs and/or motivations. Apart from it, there must be a connection with workers’ capabilities. If there is a derailment between workers’ options and their challenging goals it means that the company is asking too much from the employees and setting the bar too high. The other side is just as true: when managers set goals where they ask too little of their subordinates, employees are not challenged. Employees will sooner get bored or get monotonous work. Therefore, managers must formulate what the company wants and they must not formulate what our organization does not want.

The Other Areas of Performance Management after This Initial Phase

I understand that the initial phase would not be easy given the magnitude and dimensions of changes the company wants to bring. However, even after the success of the initial phase, challenges would not end. I have the vision to implement many changes that Google and Cargill have brought. I intend to reduce the frequency of performance appraisal after the completion of the first phase. I have not introduced more frequent checking in the initial phase because it might see increased resistance from the employees. In Cargill, seniors and managers offer daily feedback and it might be both in formal and informal forms. I would ask the management to let our executives visit both Google and Cargill provided their management allows such interactions. Alternatively, we might hire an independent consultant to help us in our HR reengineering endeavors.

Conclusion

Human capital management is critical for the success of our organization, especially in this pandemic-affected time. I have analyzed the systems and policies of large organizations in the IT and food sectors. Organizations including Google and Cargill have adopted comprehensive HR systems which rely on frequent feedback that improves employees’ performance. It is pertinent to mention that many employees would show resistance; therefore, I have proposed a proper communication and tackling strategy to mitigate the opposition to the plan. It is hoped that the first phase would end in the stipulated time and we would move to the next step as per schedule. I want to thank the management and CEO for their guidance and cooperation.

References

Cappelli, P., & Tavis, A. (2016, October). The future of performance reviews. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-performance-management-revolution

Hearn, S. (2018, June 28). Why is performance management important? Clear Review. https://www.clearreview.com/why-performance-management-important/

Valamis. (2020). Performance management. Valamis. https://www.valamis.com/hub/performance-management

Ward, M. (2017, October 24). Stanford psychologist shares 5 mental strategies for dealing with a toxic coworker. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/24/5-mental-strategies-for-dealing-with-a-toxic-coworker.html