The Worst Small Business HR Issues

Listening to an employee’s issue is the most important step in resolving conflict. You have to listen to everyone to completely understand the nature of conflict, and then you can start troubleshooting solutions.

Human resources management relies upon employees and employers working concurrently. However in many cases this is hard to create, this is a factor leading to workplace disputes. Workplace disputes are conflict which occurs within the workplace. They can be a result of relationships or clashes in opinions on certain tasks. Indicators are used to measure the results of workplace disputes, these indicate the factors creating disputes. They include: corporate culture - how well a workforce treats one another, benchmarking key variables - whether staff are motivated to reach these benchmarks, staff turnover - the amount of separation of employees is occurring, absenteeism - how frequently staff are taking days off, accidents - how people react

Conflict results from real or perceived opposition to one’s values, actions, desires or general interests. Conflicts may occur internally or externally between individuals or groups; conflict within a team environment can cause frustration, and occasionally anger. However, conflict resolution can also often generate positive results for the team. Conflict management skills remain in demand; conflict may be managed successfully by reaching an agreement that satisfies the needs of both the individual(s) and the team as a whole

Human Resource plays a key role in designing the performance management framework. Human Resource role is manifold and each of these roles well played can be highly beneficial to the organization. However, as it is now, the people in the department do not seem up to par. In the article, "Why We Hate HR," written by Keith H. Hammond, the author portrayed a negative stance on the department. He listed four reasons describing what is wrong with the Human Resource people. Based on those four main criticisms, three individual interviews were conducted to see either Hammond’s point of view is agreeable or not. The interviewees also have given their personal experiences and opinions when comparing their

People must not be unfairly discriminated against because of any of these factors and we must all contribute to creating a positive workplace and service delivery environment where discriminatory practices and

The potential for conflicts would consist of pointing fingers and judging without investigating. A person might already know who the employee is that started the problem and approach the person, unprofessionally. The process needs to be redefined and no one should be singled out as the culprit. Furthermore, a conflict may ignite if communication is not open. Hence, one person might feel an idea or strategy is not helpful to reach the goal. Although, good teamwork creates a positive environment. If there is a heated disagreement, it can lower the mood, and demotivate the rest of the team. However, according to Cheesebro, (2010) Conflict is healthy in certain situations, because it will bring a team together. Research has shown, employees who feel part of a strong team are happier and more productive. An acronym for team

As the expression of employees' dissatisfaction and differences with employers, conflict is regarded as bad and irrational for the organization and should be kept down through some forcible ways. Conflict can arise from employees' misunderstanding of the direction of the organisation or the poor communication between the staff and the management, enabling employees to substitute alternative agendas instead of the organisation's agenda (Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring, 2005). Moreover, conflicts can arise from the poor management that caused by the management's failure to identify and meet employees' basic needs.

The organisation is the background within which the HR function works. Understanding the deep nature of the organisation has to be the main goal for HRM as the nature of the organisation has a huge impact on how people are managed in the business.

The general line of reasoning is that if we learn to incorporate each other’s diverse traits and characteristics in the workplace, we can then use these differences to foster an innovative environment, which will give the company a competitive advantage over the competitors that do not accept workforce diversity. According to the Allied Academies International Conference, “Diversity is rapidly becoming a common practice among companies due to the increasing number of minorities entering the job market today. As these groups become more prevalent throughout companies, upper-level employees are facing numerous challenges when determining what changes must take place to create a positive working environment for everyone. Management is responsible for the development and implementation of effective policies directly relating to diversity to ensure the acceptance of minorities into the workplace and to aid in minorities’ success through equal opportunities and treatment.” (Marcia L. James, 2001, Academy for Studies in International Business Proceedings)

Why does discrimination occur at workplace? There are multiple explanation for the issue. It can be ranged from generational differences, lack of diversity training, absence of good behavior modeling, and many other reasons. In every workplace, it is consists of different cultural, religious, and social backgrounds. There are different perspectives and conversations that take place at the workplace. An individual’s aspect on race, culture, sexual orientations, gender, and political views is disparate among other people. When contrary perspective arises, it can easily result discrimination. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, there was approximately 99.412 discrimination cases recorded in 2012.

Managing diversity and equality effectively in the workplace is the core responsibility of any organization in the contemporary business world. Shen, Chanda, D’Netto and Monga (2009) conducted a survey whose results revealed the massive diversity within the British society in terms of ethnicity, nationality and religion. As a result, the Equality Act of 2010 was formulated and became law whose provisions focus on legal protection against discrimination based on gender re-assignment, marriage, civil partnership, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, pregnancy and maternity, sex and beliefs (Monks, 2007). Therefore, managing diversity in the workplace is critical towards the achievement of equality and discrimination free working environment. Bhatia (2008) observed that the ability to understand, accept, value, acknowledge and celebrate differences among people with respect to race, sexual orientation, religion, age, ethnicity and mental ability within an organization is crucial in eliminating discrimination. Discrimination refers to the tendency of denying equal treatment to people believed to be members of the same social group (Ozbilgin, 2009). In other words, discrimination in the work place is related to denial of equal treatment in terms of promotion, compensation, career development, training and empowerment. Therefore, managing diversity in the work place is crucial towards the achievement of a discrimination free working environment and the

Conflict is inescapable, having the ability to recognize, understand, and resolve conflicts are important in both personal and professional lives. Myatt (2012) states that conflict in the workplace is unavoidable; if left unresolved, workplace conflict may result in loss of productivity and the creation of barriers that can inhibit creativity, cooperation, and collaboration. It is vital to embrace conflict and address problems through effective conflict-resolution tactics because if not handled appropriately, conflict will escalate. “If not handled properly, conflict may significantly affect employee morale, increase turnover, and even result in litigation, ultimately affecting the overall well-being of

The discrimination-and-fairness paradigm is considered the “dominant way” of understanding diversity by most organizations. It attempts to remove discrimination and create employment equality by seeking to increase diversity among employees. Progress is measured by how well the company is able to meet its diversity number goals but avoids looking deeper at the reality behind the numbers. (Thomas & Ely p. 81)

Discrimination comes in many forms. Discrimination and diversity are closely linked considering the reasons behind discrimination are what makes up the definition of diversity. Not only is discrimination made against gender, race, and religion, but it is also made of age, disabilities, appearance and in a lot of cases, women who are pregnant too. This is very much a reality for many employers. There are laws protecting acts of discrimination. This topic is so sensitive, that many employers implement diversity and discrimination into their mission statements. Many companies make it their practice to host training sessions to prevent discrimination from happening, then there are many companies who can’t afford such training for their

While knowing the law and how best to serve those who have individual needs is the obvious place for leaders to begin, some supervisors find this difficult in the workplace. Surprisingly, creating a culturally inclusive workplace is actually quite simple according to lawyer Dawn Bennett-Alexander in her TedTalk on Practical Diversity (2015). In her talk, Bennett-Alexander discusses the