Human resource management

The work of managers is to ensure that staff works efficiently in an organisation. In order to achieve this, managers must know what motivates people. Motivation is getting others to do something because they want to do it. Motivation is a set of processes that moves a person toward a goal. To motivate others is one of the most important management tasks. It comprises the abilities to understand what drives people, to communicate, to involve, to challenge, to encourage, to set an example, to develop and coach, to obtain feedback and to provide a just reward.

Many methods of employee motivation have been developed. Motivation theories are important to supervisors attempting to be effective leaders. Two primary approaches to motivation are content and process.

The content approach to motivation focuses on the assumption that individuals are motivated by the desire to fulfil inner needs. Content theories focus on the needs that motivate people.

One of the best known theories using this approach is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory. He believed that in order to understand motivation, one must understand that human motivation arises from a need. A need is anything that is required, desired or useful. The American psychologist identifies certain basic human needs and classifies them in an ascending order of importance. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there are needs of five types:

· physical needs (the need for food, clothes, shelter),

· safety needs (the need to feel secure at home and at work),

· social needs (the need to feel loved, accepted and part of the group),

· self-esteem needs (the need for recognition, acknowledgement and status),

· and self-actualisation needs (the need to accomplish established goals and to be all you can).

According to Maslow, when a need is satisfied, it stops being a motivating factor and a higher-level need arises and, hence, a person is motivated to do something to satisfy it.

Another well known theory is Herzberg’s ‘two-factor’ theory, according to which he distinguishes motivators and hygiene factors. Motivators include work itself, achievement, recognition, responsibi­lity, growth and advancement. Company policies, supervision, working conditions, interpersonal relationship and salary are called hygiene factors, which cause dissatisfaction if missing, but are not motivators themselves.

The process approach emphasises how and why people choose certain behaviours in order to meet their personal goals. Among process approach based theories one can find Vroom’s Expectancy Model (suggests that people choose among alternative behaviours because they anticipate that particular behaviours will lead to one or more desired outcomes and that other behaviours will lead to undesirable outcomes) and Adams’ Equity Theory (equity is the perception of fairness involved in rewards given.) A fair or equitable situation is one in which people with similar inputs experience similar outcomes.

There exist a lot of motivation theories, but one thing which is sure is that no matter what type of organisation a manager works in, his or her results are achieved through the performance of other people. In order to achieve good performance, as it was mentioned above, a manager should know how to motivate people to do their best. Good motivation is one of the characteristics of an effective personnel function or as it is more often called nowadays human resource management. Human resource management is the process of evaluating human resource needs, finding people to fill those needs and optimising this important resource by providing the right incen­tives and job environment, all with the goal of meeting the objectives of the organisation.

Human resource management policies should emanate from the top of the organisation, i.e. top management and should be clearly defined and communicated through managers and supervisors to staff at all levels. The philosophy of human resource management policy should include:

· the recognition of people’s needs and expectations at work;

· respect for the individual;

· justice in treatment and equitable reward system;

· stability of employment;

· good working environment and conditions of service;

· opportunities for personal development and career progression;

· democratic functioning of the organisation;

· full observance of all laws and codes of conduct relating to employment.

Human resource management just as all management begins with planning. Human resource planning process includes six steps, which are as follows: preparing forecast of future human resources needs; preparing human resource inventory; preparing job analysis; assessing future demands; assessing future supply; establishing a plan for recruiting, hiring, educating and developing employees.

Nowadays much attention is being paid to human resource management which in its turn has become a major element in the management of organisations. Professionals dealing with it are called personnel managers. As now recruiting, motivating and retaining of highly skilled professionals is a key to success or failure of any firm a variety of exciting and challenging careers in human resource management is increasing every day.

Task 33. Translate the sentences into English:

1. Одним із завдань менеджера є забезпечення ефективної роботи працівників. 2. Мотивування – це набір процесів, які сприяють просуванню людини до поставленої мети. 3. Завдання лідера полягає у максимальному покращенні потенціалу працівників та виконанні завдань, а також результатів праці кожного з членів команди. 4. Потреба – це те, що людині необхідне, бажане або корисне. 5. Кожна людина має значно більший потенціал, аніж демонструє, а завдання керівника полягає в тому, щоб якомога повніше його розкрити. 6. Кожен керівник, який прагне досягти успіху, повинен розуміти потреби своїх підлеглих. 7. Згідно з ієрархією потреб Маслоу причиною мотивації людини є її потреби. 8. Потреба, яку було задоволено, перестає бути моти­вуючим фактором. 9. Працівники порівнюють свої винагороди за старання з винагородами, які отримують інші. 10. Якщо праців­ник помічає нерівність в отриманні винагород ним та іншими працівниками, він свідомо або підсвідомо докладатиме менше зусиль для виконання завдань у майбутньому. 11. Завдання ме­неджера з трудових ресурсів полягає в тому, щоб визначити потреби в людських ресурсах і задовольнити їх за допомогою підбору необхідного персоналу. 12. Менеджмент трудових ресур­сів, як і будь-який інший, починається з планування. 13. Спеціа­лісти, які займаються підбором працівників, називаються мене­джерами з персоналу або менедже­рами трудових ресурсів. 14. Політика компанії щодо трудових ресурсів, яка прий­мається на вищому рівні, повинна бути доведена до працівників усіх рівнів. 15. Визнання людських потреб, повага до кожного, справедли­вість, стабільність працевлаштування та хороші умови праці є невід’ємними складовими політики управління тру­довими ресурсами компанії.

Task 34. Think over and then write for half an hour on one of the following issues:

A. Have you ever met or worked with a person you consider to be a leader? What features should a leader possess, in your opinion? Why should leaders possess just these very features? Supply your arguments.

B. What things are motivators for you to study and become a manager? Supply your arguments.

C. You have learnt about several theories of motivation. Which of them seems most realistic to you? Why? Supply your arguments.