Quiambao, Anna Shenne S.

January 23, 2017

BS Psychology 4-1
What is Employee Relations?

Every individual shares a certain relationship with his colleagues at the workplace. The
relationship is either warm, so-so or bad. The relationship can be between anyone in the
organization - between coworkers, between an employee and his superior, between two members
in the management and so on. It is important that the employees share a healthy relationship with
each other to deliver their best performances.

An individual spends his maximum time at the workplace and his fellow workers are the
ones with whom he spends the maximum hours in a day. No way can he afford to fight with his
colleagues. Conflicts and misunderstandings only add to tensions and in turn decrease the
productivity of the individual. One needs to discuss so many things at work and needs the advice
and suggestions of all to reach to a solution which would benefit the individual as well as the
organization.

No individual can work alone. He needs the support and guidance of his fellow workers
to come out with a brilliant idea and deliver his level best.

Employee relations refer to the relationship shared among the employees in an

organization.

The employees must be comfortable with each other for a healthy environment at work. It
is the prime duty of the superiors and team leaders to discourage conflicts in the team and
encourage a healthy relationship among employees.

Life is really short and it is important that one enjoys each and every moment of it.
Remember in an organization you are paid for your hard work and not for cribbing or fighting
with each other. Dont assume that the person sitting next to you is your enemy or will do any
harm to you. Who says you cant make friends at work, in fact one can make the best of friends
in the office. There is so much more to life than fighting with each other.

Observation says that a healthy relation among the employees goes a long way in
motivating the employees and increasing their confidence and morale. One starts enjoying
his office and does not take his work as a burden. He feels charged and fresh the whole day and
takes each day at work as a new challenge. If you have a good relation with your team members
you feel going to office daily. Go out with your team members for a get together once in a while
or have your lunch together. These activities help in strengthening the bond among the
employees and improve the relations among them.

An employee must try his level best to adjust with each other and compromise to his
best extent possible. If you do not agree to any of your fellow workers ideas, there are several
other ways to convince him. Sit with him and probably discuss with him where he is going
wrong and needs a correction. This way he would definitely look up to you for your advice and
guidance in future. He would trust you and would definitely come to your help whenever you
 need him. One should never spoil his relations with his colleagues because you never know when
you need the other person.

Avoid using foul words or derogatory sentences against anyone. Dont depend on lose
talk in office as it spoils the ambience of the place and also the relation among the employees.
Blame games are a strict no no in office.

One needs to enter his office with a positive frame of mind and should not
unnecessarily make issues out of small things. It is natural that every human being can not
think the way you think, or behave the way you behave. If you also behave in the similar way the
other person is behaving, there is hardly any difference between you and him. Counsel the other
person and correct him wherever he is wrong.

It is of utmost importance that employees behave with each other in a cultured way,
respect each other and learn to trust each other. An individual however hardworking he is, cannot
do wonders alone. It is essential that all the employees share a cordial relation with each other,
understand each others needs and expectations and work together to accomplish the goals and
targets of the organization.

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which

governs how people behave in organizations. These shared values have a strong influence on the
people in the organization and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs. Every
organization develops and maintains a unique culture, which provides guidelines and boundaries
for the behavior of the members of the organization. Let's explore what elements make up an
organization's culture.
Organizational culture works a lot like this. Every company has its own unique
personality, just like people do. The unique personality of an organization is referred to as its
culture. In groups of people who work together, organizational culture is an invisible but
powerful force that influences the behavior of the members of that group. So, how do we define
organizational culture?
Types of Organizational Culture
According to Robert E. Quinn and Kim S. Cameron at the University of Michigan at Ann
Arbor, there are four types of organizational culture: Clan, Adhocracy, Market, and Hierarchy.

Clan oriented cultures are family-like, with a focus on mentoring, nurturing, and doing
things together.
Adhocracy oriented cultures are dynamic and entrepreneurial, with a focus on risk-
taking, innovation, and doing things first.
Market oriented cultures are results oriented, with a focus on competition, achievement,
and getting the job done.
Hierarchy oriented cultures are structured and controlled, with a focus on efficiency,
stability and doing things right.
Importance of Organizational Culture

The most important thing about culture is that its the only sustainable point of
difference for any organization. Anyone can copy a companys strategy, but nobody can
copy their culture. But what is organizational culture?

Culture is driven by leadership. How leaders behave, what they say, and what they
value drives culture

Culture is how organizations do things

The values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological
environment of an organization

Organizational culture defines a jointly shared description of an organization from

within

Organizational culture is the sum of values and rituals which serve as glue to
integrate the members of the organization

Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which

governs how people behave in organizations

Organizational culture is civilization in the workplace

Organizational culture refers to the philosophies, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and

practices that define an organization

Culture is the organizations immune system

It over simplifies the situation in large organizations to assume there is only one
culture and its risky for new leaders to ignore the sub-cultures

What is HRM?

Human Resource Management, shortly known as HRM refers to a systematic branch of

management that is concerned with managing people at work so that they can give best results to
the organisation. It is the application of management principles to the people working in the
organisation. It aims at improving the performance and productivity of the organisation by
finding out the effectiveness of its human capital. Therefore, HRM is an art of placing the right
person at the right job, to ensure the best possible use of organisations manpower.
 The process involves an array of activities that begins with the recruitment, selection,
orientation, & induction, training & development, performance appraisal, incentives &
compensation, motivation, maintaining workplace safety, health & welfare policies, managing
relationship with the organisation, managing change.

What is HRD?

The term Human Resource Development or HRD refers to the development of people
working in an organization. It is a part of HRM; that aims at improving skills, knowledge,
competencies, attitude and behavior of employees of the organization. The purpose of the HRD
is to empower and strengthen the abilities of the employees so that their performance will get
better than before.

Human Resource Development involves providing such opportunities to the employees

that will prove beneficial in their all-around development. Such opportunities include training &
development, career development, performance management, talent management, coaching &
mentoring, key employee identification, succession planning and so on. Nowadays, there are
many organizations work for the human resource development of employees from the day they
join the enterprise, and the process continues, until the end of their employment term.

Basis for Comparison HRM HRD

Human Resource
Human Resource Management Development means a
refers to the application of continuous development
Meaning principles of management to function that intends to
manage the people working in the improve the performance of
organization. people working in the
organization.
Subset of Human Resource
What is it? Management function.
Management.
Function Reactive Proactive
To develop the skills,
To improve the performance of
Objective knowledge and competency
the employees.
of employees.
Process Routine Ongoing
Dependency Independent It is a subsystem.
Development of the entire
Concerned with People only
organization.
Key Differences Between HRM and HRD

The significant differences between HRM and HRD are discussed in the following points:

1. Human Resource Management refers to the application of principles of management to

manage the people working in the organization. Human Resource Development means a
continuous development function that intends to improve the performance of people
working in the organization.

2. HRM is a function of management. Conversely, HRD falls under the umbrella of HRM.

3. HRM is a reactive function as it attempts to fulfil the demands that arise while HRD is a
proactive function, that meets the changing demands of the human resource in the
organization and anticipates it.

4. HRM is a routine process and a function of administration. On the other hand, HRD is an
ongoing process.

5. The basic objective of HRM is to improve the efficiency of employees. In contrast to

HRD, which aims at developing the skill, knowledge and competency of workers and the
entire organization?

6. HRD is an organizationally oriented process; that is a subsystem of a big system. As

opposed to HRM where there are separate roles to play, which makes it an independent
function.

7. Human Resource Management is concerned with people only. Unlike Human Resource
Development, that focus on the development of the entire organization.

Conclusion

HRM differs with HRD in a sense that HRM is associated with management of human resources
while HRD is related to the development of employees. Human Resource Management is a
bigger concept than Human Resource Development. The former encompasses a range of
organizational activities like planning, staffing, developing, monitoring, maintaining, managing
relationship and evaluating whereas the latter covers in itself the development part i.e. training,
learning, career development, talent management, performance appraisal, employee engagement
and empowerment.

What are the roles of HRD in Cultural Development?

A great strategy is no guarantee of long-term business success. Many other factors impact
organizational performance. One such factor is corporate culture which helps an organization
create a high performance environment which supports business strategy implementation.
Because culture is so important to the success of a firm, human resource professionals need to
increase their profiency at impacting culture.
What is Corporate Culture?

Human Resource leaders need a more thorough understanding of corporate culture if they
wish to have an impact.

Culture defines the proper way to think, act and behave within an organization. Those
who do things in the "proper" way will fit-in and can become quite successful. Those who chose
not to do things in the proper way do not last long with an organization. They are told, "we dont
do things like that here."

Senior management defines what is considered proper within the organization. Leaders
create cultures which they believe will provide them with a competitive advantage. If the
company competes in an industry that relies on innovation, management will create cultures
where creativity is consider the proper way to think, act and behave. This is because culture
helps an organization adapt to its external environment as well as drives internal integration.

Educating Organizational Leaders

For human resource professionals, the implications are clear. To impact culture, HR
leaders must work with company executives to help define what the organization considers
proper with regards to how people think, act and behave.

This is not simply a "feel good" exercise. The ultimate goal should be to improve
performance, both for the organization and for the individual. HR needs to help executives
understand that if they do not accurately understand the strengths and weaknesses of the cultures
they create, they will have a much harder time achieving their organization objectives. For
example, one could cite the cultures at Enron and Arthur Andersen as examples of leaders not
realizing the impact of their corporate cultures.

Also, executives often do not have an accurate understanding of the cultures that they
create. Because they are removed from the front lines, executives tend to believe that the
espoused culture they intended to create exists throughout the organization. However, often this
is not the case and executives end up with an inaccurate perception of their corporate culture.
Here HR can provide tremendous value by agreeing to keep a pulse on the corporate culture.

HR Cultural Levers

Human Resource professionals have at their disposal many of the necessary levers to create,
sustain and change corporate culture. The challenge is for HR to make choices about the use of
these levers and to where to focus their energy.

Pay Systems: Compensation and reward systems are one of the most important mechanisms HR
can use to motivate employees to perform in ways that are proper. Quite simply, those employees
who think, act and behave in the proper way should be rewarded. Those who do not should not
receive rewards because doing so will send a mixed message to employees.
 HR must be careful when designing such pay for performance reward programs. To
effectively impact corporate culture, pay systems should reward not only job outcomes, but also
behavioral expectations. For example, it is quite common for HR to design a pay system that
rewards based simply on productivity. However, such narrowly defined expectations could be
creating a culture that is counter to organizational success.

In one organization, sales employees were rewarded only on the number of accounts that
they opened. What occurred however was an environment where sales employees where overly
competitive with each other, teamwork was non-existent, employees only looked out for
themselves, and they ignored company policies in order to close the deal. These employees in
fact were demonstrating negative behaviors that were counter to the desired culture of the
organization. Yet, based on the pay system designed by HR, they were rewarded. Such a pay
system did not support the corporate culture and proved to be a valuable lesson for this HR team.

Performance Management: Performance management programs can greatly impact corporate

culture because they clearly articulate to employees what is expected from them as well as
provides a feedback mechanism to inform employees if they are being "proper" as defined by the
corporate culture.

To impact culture, performance management systems need to also address employee

behaviors and not just work objectives. Doing so helps to eliminate the mistake described above
where employees were rewarded even though they demonstrated behaviors counter to the
culture. So even though business objectives may be met, if behavior expectations are not the
performance management process will point out this discrepancy to an employee so that their
behaviors can be aligned with corporate culture.

Also, culturally aligned performance management systems have a strong element of

differentiation. This means that those who think, act and behave in the proper way according to
the culture should be given higher ratings, increases and/or promotions than those that do not. If
your performance management process simply gives every employee the same rating and/or
increase regardless of whether they are thinking, acting or behaving properly, your performance
management process then does not impact corporate culture.

Recruiting and Selection: Talent acquisitions efforts impact culture by determining the
types of employees brought into the organization. Savvy HR professionals look for more than
just the right skills and capabilities in an applicant, they should also determine if the candidate
will be a good cultural fit for the organization. To do this effectively, HR must have a solid
understanding of the culture of the firm if they wish to determine if someone will fit into the
culture. Questions focused on determining cultural fit should be a part of every new employee
interview.

One organization recently hired a human resource director and failed to ask cultural fit
questions. This particular director had a command and control approach as well as preferred to
micromanage his direct reports. Employees within the human resource function soon began to
resign because the new manager did not display actions or behaviors that were in alignment with
the culture that had always promoted empowerment, open communication and an emphasis on
employee development. The director was soon let go because he did not fit into the culture
desired by the organization even though he possessed the proper skills, education and experience.

Training & Development: By focusing on training and development efforts that help employees
to think, act and behave in the proper way, HR can impact the culture. Training programs can be
designed to help employees demonstrate the behaviors desired by the corporate culture. Also,
those who are successful within a culture should be given additional development opportunities
so that they can assume positions of greater responsibility. By developing and promoting those
that support the corporate culture, HR again is again having an impact.

Also, organizations that promote employee development as part of their corporate culture
should ensure that enough resources are allocated to HRs training and development budget. The
allocation of scarce resources is another sign that employees look for when determining if an
organization is serious about creating the culture they espouse.

To see how this all works together, lets look at a situation where leadership wants HRs
help to create a corporate culture that focuses on teamwork and collaboration. First, HR can
establish reward programs that are team-based. Next, they can create a performance management
process that evaluates employees on their teamwork and coordination behaviors. HR can help
shape training programs designed to improve employee teamwork skills and how to function as a
high performing team. Lastly, HR can look to hire individuals who have demonstrated an ability
to work well in teams and have experience leading teams. By leveraging these 4 elements alone,
HR could have a tremendous impact on shaping a teamwork and collaboration based corporate
culture.

As this article demonstrates, HR professionals have many levers at their disposal to

impact corporate culture. Other HR elements that could be leveraged include organizational
design, corporate values, and even the physical work environment. The truth is that the ability to
perceive the limitations of ones culture and to develop the culture adaptability is the essence and
ultimate challenge of HR leaders. Those HR professionals looking to provide value to their
organization must understand how they impact corporate culture.

References:
http://www.managementstudyguide.com/what-is-employee-relations.htm
https://www.torbenrick.eu/blog/culture/organizational-culture/
http://artsfwd.org/4-types-org-culture/
http://keydifferences.com/difference-between-hrm-and-hrd.html
http://www.hr.com/en/communities/organizational_development/hr-impact-on-corporate-
culture_ead1bczz.html