Question No. 1:
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Describe the component HR functions of an organization’s human capital system.
An organization has a human capital system that has human resource functions. These functions are recruitment and selection, orientation, compensation management, training and development, and performance appraisal. These functions work at the center of the human capital system of an organization. Their effectiveness is evident because they help attract, retain, and motivate talented employees in an organization. Attraction to an organization is only possible if that organization offers a healthy and professional work environment. Applicants also evaluate an organization based on opportunities in their career. Compensation and rewards system also ensures the motivation and commitment of employees (Cristiani & Peiró, 2018).
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Discuss how they work to manage performance at the workforce level to include the concepts of investment, leading & lagging indicators, challenges).
HR functions work for the performance management of the workforce and employees. Their central objective is to address the needs of employees in an organization. Talented human resources are centrally crucial for the success and excellent performance of an organization. They affect all operations positively. Therefore, concepts of investment, leading and lagging indicators, and challenges related to them. Investment in technology, infrastructure, expansion, or any aspect of an organization is effective and productive if it has a well-managed human resource function. Leading and lagging indicators also follow the level of consideration for human resource management. As a result, an organization can deal with challenges successfully and effectively (Cristiani & Peiró, 2018).
Question No. 2:
List the major components of the integrated motivation model which shapes the psychological experience of employees
Major components of the integrated motivation model shape the psychological experience of employees. The integrated model has three main parts. The first component consists of factors, including personal and contextual factors. These factors lead to the second stage, which is motivation and employee engagement. As a result, the third component comes into being that brings motivation at the individual, group, and organizational levels. It also ends with positive and negative behaviors and outcomes (Lin, 2018).
The first component of factors is essential because it considers personality and the context. Emotions, behaviors, attitudes, and personality are factors leading to motivating an employee. The context of an organization is also essential because organizational culture, job design, norms, group behavior, and corporate design are the factors shaping the context. The relationship between personal and contextual factors is inevitable to bring motivation and a high level of employee engagement. Outcomes of the integrated model of motivation leads include organizational citizenship behavior at the individual level. It happens if an individual is motivated. When a group is motivated, it increases the level of job satisfaction and collaboration. Members tend to share information, and these outcomes grow the performance level. These outcomes remain there at the organizational level and lead to an increase in its financial performance.
Question No. 3:
List the strategic and operational elements of a performance appraisal system.
The performance appraisal system has elements of strategic and operational importance. The basic purpose of the system is to evaluate employees in light of performance criteria at various levels. It helps organizations determine whether employees are performing as they get compensation from it. Strategic elements of the performance appraisal system include achievement of strategic goals and objectives, attracting and retaining talented and competitive workforce, and making the organizational culture aligned with the competitive corporate culture. Operational elements are essential as they measure the performance of employees. The system rates the performance and sets criteria for it. As a result, an organization knows the maximum about the performance and productivity of its employees (Su & Baird, 2017).
Give an organizational example and specify how it fits or does not fit the guidelines for an effective performance management system.
A performance management system does not necessarily need to imitate a bookish plan of action. The example from Google is relevant where the company does not follow the traditional performance management system. The company sets a goal-setting criteria for its employees, and they have to achieve goals under the competitive and cooperative work environment of the company. The use of objectives and key results is the new style in goal setting. Although it is a nontraditional performance management system, it aligns with the guidelines of an effective performance management system (Su & Baird, 2017).
Use a specific organizational example to discuss why an organization should differentiate its compensation system into individual, collective, and organizational components.
In the context of the performance management system, an organization should divide its compensation system into individual, collective, and organizational components. For instance, an employee has to use his abilities to achieve personal goals. At the collective level, he has to collaborate with team members where he has to share knowledge. Productivity would be the group outcome as a result. At the third level, individual and collective efforts would help meet organizational goals and objectives that would result in financial outcomes for the whole organization (Su & Baird, 2017).
Question No. 4:
Discuss the process of creating change and innovation in organizations, using models discussed in class and at least one organizational example.
Any organization may not sustain success and excellent performance if it does not bring innovation and change to meet contemporary and competitive demands from society. The process of change and innovation follows theoretical models studied in the class. Kotter’s Change Steps and Lewin’s Change Model may help bring innovation and change within an organization.
Both models can be integrated to form one comprehensive and broad model for innovation and change in an organization. Three steps in Lewin’s change model are refreezing, change, and refreezing, while Kotter has presented eight steps to bring change (Henry, et al., 2017). An organization may adopt a course of action using these steps. An organization has to de-freeze first by creating urgency for change. It has to get support from a coalition that can help create the vision for change. Then, it is time to communicate the vision. It is the adoption of a new vision; therefore, it is called de-freeze stage. Then, an organization has to eradicate obstacles to move on towards the vision. Short term goals and milestones can be helpful to achieve a more significant objective and goal. Then, the organization has to move on to the change process. These steps are part of the change process. In the end, the third step from Lewin’s model is to refreeze the change process by introducing and implementing changes in the organization and its culture (Rosenbaum, More, & Steane, 2018).
The change and innovation to introduce new technology in an organization can follow these models. The organization has to de-freeze the culture, allowing the introduction of new technology. In the second phase, one department after another would adopt the technology. In the last stage, the whole organization would utilize technology.
Question No. 5:
Briefly define organizational culture. Describe the culture at a place you have worked/volunteered or currently working and specifically how it manifests across different groups
Organizational culture is the culture of an organization that makes the context for all actions and behaviors of its employees. It consists of the social and psychological environmental factors of an organization. An organization may adopt a cooperative and flat culture while another organization may adopt the mechanistic and highly formal culture. I have experience of working as a volunteer at a local charity. The organizational culture there followed a few directions from the supervisor. Openness and transparency were visible outcomes of the culture. It helped the charity, groups, and me to be responsible and work on motivating matters. The culture motivated people across different groups to pursue organizational, collective, and individual goals efficiently.
List examples how the organization’s culture influences human capital practices
I came to know that corporate culture influences human capital practices in many ways. It increases the level of trust and confidence of employees in the organization because a greater level of transparency brings honesty to the culture. The recruitment and selection follow honest practices because open and flat culture does not discriminate employees. The most significant impact is visible in performance appraisal, where employees have greater confidence in the assessment that results in their high motivation levels. In contrast, if an organizational culture does not value honesty and is highly formalized, employees may develop dissatisfaction and lack of motivation over the process (Brazeal, Schenkel, & Kumar, 2014).
References
Brazeal, D. V., Schenkel, M. T., & Kumar, S. (2014). Beyond the Organizational Bounds in CE Research: Exploring Personal and Relational Factors in a Flat Organizational Structure. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 19 (2), 78-106.
Cristiani, A., & Peiró, J. M. (2018). Human resource function, unions and varieties of capitalism. Employee Relations, 40 (6), 1072-1098.
Henry, L. S., Hansson, M. C., Haughton, V. C., Waite, A. L., Bowers, M., Siegrist, V., et al. (2017). Application of Kotter’s theory of change to achieve baby-friendly designation. Nursing for women’s health, 21 (5), 372-382.
Lin, T. (2018). An Integrated Model of Volunteers’ Motivations, Interpersonal Exchange and Behavioral Intentions: A Case of Event Volunteers. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 1-147.
Rosenbaum, D., More, E., & Steane, P. (2018). Planned organisational change management. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 31 (2), 286-303.
Su, S., & Baird, K. (2017). The association between performance appraisal systems, work-related attitudes and academic performance. Financial Accountability & Management, 33 (4), 356-372.
