Empowerment & strategic workforce management

EMPOWERMENT AND STRATEGIC WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT Empowerment and Strategic Workforce Management For reward, benefits and employee development systems to be of importance to a business organization they should always be aligned to the business. First an organization should make sure that the attributes that are being developed in the employees are in line with the culture and objectives of the organization. This should always involve training and educational activities that are aimed at aimed at improving employees’ skills, behaviors, and competencies. There should also be a performance rating system in the organization which will ensure that the organization can keep track of the specific performances of their employees and reward them accordingly (Huselid, Beatty & Becker, 2005). An organization should make sure that the benefits that they accord to their employees are in line with their core values. For example an organization with environmental suitability as its core value should make sure that they give their employees benefits that are environmental suitability oriented.
Employee reward plays a huge role in motivation of well performing employees. It makes them want to give more towards the achievement of the organization’s goals. Benefits are also very important in making the employees feel like they are appreciated by the organization and that they are part of it. As a result the organization will be in a position of improving the contribution of its employees to the achievement of the organization’s goals. Through employee development systems, an organization will have the capability of improving the performance ability of their employees. The skills and experience gained during the process would reflect in the overall productivity of an organization’s workforce. Cases when reward systems have failed to provide incentives include those that involved overspending financial resources on rewarding employee (Walker, 2002). Financial compensation is not the only form of reward that can be used in motivating employees. To avoid this, an organization might consider blending all the other forms of compensation and makes sure that all are in line with the organization’s goals and abilities.
In a business organization, managers should make sure that they are able to strike a balance between their organization’s commitment to systems of control and to empowering employees. On way through which this can be possible is through making sure that various forms of empowerment have to be earned through employees’ performance (Oh, 2009). They can also keep the balance by making sure that they put in place policies that will make sure that employees adhere to the performance standards of the organization.
An organization’s success in this area depends upon the good instincts of middle managers and the good will of employees to some degree. This is because the middle managers are the ones who have direct contact with the employees making it easier for them to experience the effect of control systems and employee empowerment. Their failure in this process will mean that many of the goals of the whole process will not be achieved. On the other hand it will be hard for there to be a balance between their organization’s commitment to systems of control and to empowering employees without the goodwill of the employees involved. You can never develop an employee who does not want any involvement in the development process. If an employee is unwilling to take part in achieving an organization’s goals the organization is always at liberty to terminate their contracts. However, it becomes a problem when the numbers are high.
References
Oh, S. Y. (2009). The relationship between quality management, organizational learning, and organizational performance. (Dissertation Abstracts International, 70-6.)
Walker, D. M. (2002). A model of strategic human capital management. Washington, D. C: United States, General Accounting Office.
Huselid, M., Beatty, R., & Becker, B. (2005, December). A Players or A Positions? Harvard
Business Review, 83(12), 110-117. Retrieved August 6, 2009, from Business Source Premier database.