Gaps in HR Practice and Research

Dr. Ulrich goes on to support the need for HR in today’s business world. He feels that there are 5 critical challenges that businesses face: Globalization, profitability through growth, technology, intellectual capital, and change (Ulrich 126). Conversely, these things do not matter on a competitive scale. All businesses need these things to survive, but they can be attained and copied. The only competitive weapon left is organization (Ulrich 127). That is where Ulrich believes HR plays its most vital role. The differences between the leading businesses in their respective markets is their organization. Top-tier businesses are run efficiently with good HR relations. For businesses to take the next step towards maximizing their operations, they must change the culture surrounding HR and train their HR teams to become sufficient in promoting higher employee morale. Ulrich is convinced that senior operating managers must value the “soft” matters, define and hold HR accountable for its results, invest in innovative practices, and upgrade HR professionals (Ulrich

In this economic time, a reduction in employee morale is becoming more apparent. “This downward trend in job satisfaction raises concerns about the overall engagement of U.S. employees and ultimately employee productivity, retention, creativity, risk-taking, mentoring, and in overall employee motivation and interest in work” (Heathfield, n.d., ¶5). Companies as a whole are examining methods to increase employee satisfaction.

I believe that it is important to understand that job satisfaction has an impact on job performance. In my personal experiences I have seen management completely oblivious to the concerns of their staff that had a negative impact on job satisfaction. The text cites 300 studies that found that organizations with

According to Miller, buyers are outsourcing health services at least 4 times the normal rate. In reality, outsourced benefits are about 5.4 billion annually. The BAO market was powered over the years by employers seeking for help to comply with health care reform according to Miller. This pushed organizations to outsource due to finding saving and steering though the difficulties of the healthcare reform. All of this derived from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This act was created to provide Americans with healthcare. The healthcare reform played a major impact on outsourcing. It is essential to discover the impact of health services and how it impacted HR sourcing.

Well-constructed employee attitude surveys can provide insight into organizational characteristics which impact employee behavior and organizational performance (Williams, 1998). Companies may use survey results to modify their management style, organizational culture, workplace characteristics, or incentives in order to improve worker satisfaction and overall productivity (Williams, 1998). Although the link between employee attitudes and actual work performance has been found to be somewhat inconsistent (Schleicher, Watt, & Greguras, 2004), research has confirmed at least a moderate correlation between job satisfaction and rates of employee absenteeism and turnover (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, & Konopaske, 2012).

One of the biggest discussions in the article, “The Profession of Arms” 2010, is profession. What does the word profession mean? It is defined as someone who “produces uniquely expert work” or “effectiveness, rather than pure efficiency” (p. 2). In my words, profession would consist of years of experience and study in a specific subject to where you become a subject matter expert. For example, in the Human Resources spectrum, we can justify that a Sergeant First Class (SFC) is considered an expert in the field. We assume that they have the training, experience and years to know their profession very well. How does one achieve to such a level of expertise? Well, in the article, it specifies that they “earn the trust of clients through their

After analyzing this organization, it is apparent to that job satisfaction should be a priority for management. Job satisfaction can be best understood as a positive emotional state resulting from a perceived satisfaction from one’s job (Locke & Lathan, 2007). Employee satisfaction is an important retention strategy based on the knowledge that a satisfied employee is more effective in completing their duties, more productive, and seldom contemplates alternative employment. Achieving a goal of a high employee satisfaction rate consist of implementing compensation and reward strategies mentioned prior. It should be emphasized that employees, regardless of industry respond in a positive manner to positive recognition. Positive recognition can be achieved with more than compensation and rewards. Creating an atmosphere where employees feel like their ideas and opinions matter can be just as effective as monetary and non-monetary rewards. A routinely exchange of ideas

The purpose of this report is to outline the responsibilities of a H.R practioner and users of the service. It explains the different communication methods used whilst providing effective service delivery.

Tillman, A. (2013). Improving Worker Satisfaction Yields Improved Worker-Retention Rates. Employment Relations Today (Wiley), 39(4), 27-31. doi:10.1002/ert.21386

Over the last several years, the issue of employee motivation inside the workplace has been increasingly brought to the forefront. The reason why is because, globalization has been having an effect on the ability of firms to compete (which is placing more pressure on them). To deal with these challenges, most organizations are relying on their employees. The results are that those employers who are able to use this resource will be able to make adjustments quickly. This is when the firm will be able to maintain their dominance in the marketplace.

Retaining a valued employee in the organization can be just as challenging as motivating or retraining a poorly performing employee. Perhaps the main reason for a valued and desired employee to consider leaving their employee is due to dissatisfaction. In part, it is the responsibility of the human resource department to ensure that employees feel a certain level of satisfaction in their jobs. Job dissatisfaction can be a result of varying factors. Individual that do not feel that their contributions are of value or that their work is mundane and not challenging can experience dissatisfaction. Salary, benefits, work flexibility and scheduling can be factors for many employees, as well as strained relationships between coworkers and supervisors. Assessing employee satisfaction is essential to avoid valuable employees looking for employment elsewhere in hopes of satisfying a need that is not being met. The key to retention is being responsive to the needs of employees. Talking without action is ineffective in retention. Determining the needs and valued benefits for employees can be in the form of surveys or one on one interviews, but the only way to have honest and effective

In recent years, less Americans consider themselves satisfied at their workplace than in earlier decades (Mckeown, 2010). Organizations see employee satisfaction as one of the most important factors in an employee leaving voluntarily. There are many factors that can affect job satisfaction. Some of these include good structure in the organization and opportunity for advancement (Mitchell et al.,2001) Plateauing, a dead end feeling that happens when an employee cannot advance further in an organization, is a factor that can lead to job dissatisfaction (Allen et al., 1999). High Turnover rates can indicate dissatisfaction with a worker 's position or pay; there are little opportunities

The challenge is to balance the two scenarios and find a middle-of-the-road approach to that can give a hint or foretell when employees fall into one of the two extremes. However, Strand and Dore’s study pinpointed role stressors, supervision, performance recognition, and rewards as possible factors that contribute to job satisfaction, depending on the individual and level of responsibility, and employee’s number of years with the employer, the role in the organization, working conditions suitability, and lack of external client resources as a contribution to job dissatisfaction. With factor such as performance recognition, the role, and working conditions overlapping into both job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction, human resource personnel need to play a judicious balancing act. While Franek & Veera (2008) agreed with Strand & Dore on working condition as one factor that influence a level of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction, they also identified remuneration and benefits, promotion system, individual employee relationship with immediate supervisor, social relationship, organizational justice and the job itself. Overall, the authors identified situational factors which are associated with individuals and dispositional factors which are associated with an individual’s

Contentment and satisfaction of employees is extremely important as jobs are becoming more specified, selecting and training another set of workers is a long, expensive process. Motivation is the strongest, most efficient way to keep employees happy and at peak performance and things such as just saying “thank you” go a long way. In a study completed by Forbes, who polled over 2,000 professionals found that 53% of workers are more likely to stay with a company for a longer period of time solely based off of them receiving more appreciation from their boss/manager. That same study also found that 81% of workers are more motivated at work when their boss shows appreciation or thanks. Human resources has a huge part to play in this because of their role in the development, maintenance, and retention of employees. The HR management must make sure that bosses and managers with workers under their supervision feel appreciated and heard. This will lead to the employees working harder and/or better, making them more proud and happy, while benefiting the business by having a more efficient worker.

Job satisfaction is the very important factor in general quality of life because it is closely connected with working life (e.g. Argyle, 1989; Bang & Lee, 2006), with family life, everyday life, and mental health (Orpen, 1978; Schmitt and Bedeian, 1982; Faragher, Cass & Cooper, 2005). Level of job satisfaction is also highly related to turnover, absenteeism rate, work productivity or accomplishment (Muchinsky, 1977; Organ, 1977). Many researchers (e.g. Cherrington, 1994; Acorn, Ratner & Crawford, 1997; Ostroff, 1992; Spector, 1997) state that employees who experience high job satisfaction contribute to organisational commitment, job involvement, their physical, mental health and overall well-being are improved. Job dissatisfaction on the