The value of salary surveys to an organization

Human Resource Management

Many businesses and organizations large enough to require human resource management (HRM) will need someone that not only understands core human resource (HR) responsibilities, but also understands the vision and mission of the organization.

To align the core HR requirements of an organization with its strategic plan, you will conduct an HRM review of an organization in a case study. Be creative in assembling each of the individual components or HR tools to the HRM review so that they would be consistent with and add value to the organization. Complete the HRM review that illustrates how each of the HR tools plays a role in an organization’s overall strategic plan.

The project is divided into four milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Three, Four, and Five. Your comprehensive proposal will be submitted in Module Seven.

This assessment addresses the following course outcomes:

 Explain core concepts of human resource management common in today’s global workplace for promoting shared values throughout an organization  Describe human resource management practices and theories that align to and promote the organization’s vision, mission, and business  Illustrate the functions of a human resource manager for ensuring alignment with the organization’s strategic plan  Explain modern human resource concepts and principles that are essential in a changing work environment

Prompt In this assessment, you will review the human resource management (HRM) in an organization through a case study. This case study will give you the opportunity to explore various roles and processes within the human resources profession. A key skill for any professional working in human resources is the ability to develop and implement processes that align with a company’s strategic plan and mission.

I. HRM Functions and Practices A. Explain why the human resource (HR) function should be aligned with an organization’s strategic plan. B. Explain how current global conditions in this industry impact human resource management (HRM) practices within organizations.

II. Staffing A. Describe a process to recruit and select new employees who are aligned with the organization’s vision and goals from the case study. B. Compare and contrast recruitment and selection of internal versus external candidates using best practices from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) website. Refer to the Research and Metrics page for helpful resources. You may want to consider which method of recruitment would be most beneficial to this organization.

III. Training A. Describe the components of a needs assessment used to determine the training requirements of the organization. B. Explain the importance of developing learning activities. Be sure to incorporate adult learning principles and methods of experiential learning from this course. C. Illustrate the value of a training needs assessment in an organization. Support your response. D. Describe the importance of creating SMART objectives for a training plan.

IV. Compensation A. Describe the compensation philosophy. How does the market influence this philosophy? B. Determine the value of salary surveys and describe the advantages of discretionary benefits.

V. Evaluation A. Determine the HRM’s role in the performance management process. How can you ensure the process aligns with the organization’s strategic plan? B. Differentiate between various performance appraisal systems. Provide an example where one would be more applicable. C. How do you identify best-suited appraisals for employee job duties? Support your response with an example. D. Identify a variety of performance rating scales that can be used in organizations that includes graphical scales, letter scales, and numeric scales. Describe each scale.

Milestones Milestone One: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives—Functions and Practices/Staffing In Module Two, you will write a short paper that addresses Sections I and II of the Final Project document. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.

Milestone Two: Employee Development Processes In Module Three, you will write a short paper that addresses Section III of the Final Project document. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Milestone Three: Performance Management In Module Four, you will write a short paper that addresses Section V of the Final Project document. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Three Rubric.

Milestone Four: Compensation In Module Five, you will write a short paper that addresses Section IV of the Final Project document. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Four Rubric.

Final Submission: Human Resources Management review

In Module Seven, you will finalize and submit a paper that is comprised of all the milestone submissions with edits based on instructor feedback. This milestone will be graded with the Final Project Rubric below.

Deliverables Milestone Deliverable Module Due

Grading

1 Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives—Functions and Practices/Staffing

Two Graded separately; Milestone One Rubric

2 Employee Development Processes Three Graded separately; Milestone Two Rubric 3 Performance Management Four Graded separately; Milestone Three Rubric 4 Compensation Five Graded separately; Milestone Four Rubric Final Submission: HRM review Seven Graded separately; Final Project Rubric (below)

Final Project Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Submit your human resource management review adhering to the following guidelines: minimum of 7 pages, double-spaced, using 12-point Times New Roman font and following APA 6th edition format.

Milestone 1:

The human resource segment is a significant body of an organization or company or any

business body. Anytime the human resource department is mandated in processes of

development and implementation; these processes at any given point should align with the

companies or organizations strategic plans and mission. The human resource departments

undertake various functions such as management of performance, recruitment, compensation,

and training. These roles are essential to an organization, but there is the need for strategic

planning to enable the functions to add value by promoting development and ensure productivity

in the organization (Buller, & McEvoy, 2012). Therefore, it’s crucial to align human resource

functions with an organizational strategic plan.

For a company to have an excellent strategy delivery the human resource must be

incorporated; this enables the human resource department to ensure the choice of the qualified

personnel who will deliver the organizations ambition and enhance development. Secondly, the

alignment ensures adequate training and development. Lastly, there is improved recruitment and

retention of employees, therefore, giving them job security hence more productivity.

The Maersk industry has brought a significant impact when it comes to human resource

management practices within an organization. The industry has incorporated human resource,

and strategic planning and these have enabled the industry to recruit qualified personnel, training

of the staff and lastly retention of the hired employees. Besides that, the fact that the human

resource management has been aligned by strategic management, there has been improved plan

delivery which has largely contributed to productivity in the industry.

The Maersk Company incorporated both the internal and external recruitment strategies.

In the early years the internal recruitment strategy was primarily incorporated. In this approach,

individuals were recruited right after school. Trained for two years and then allowed to work in

the various sectors in the organization. While in the external kind of recruitment, individuals who

are qualified outside the organization were hired to work.

Between the year two thousand and eight and two thousand and twelve under the new

management of Allen as the human resource; the human resource department was aligned with

strategic planning making the company fit in the twenty-first century. The company came up

with a few strategies that were to govern the recruitment process (Groysberg, & Abbot, 2012).

External recruitment was incorporated. To support the growth of the industry experienced

personnel and managers were to be recruited. To meet the needs of the industry recruitment was

based on experience and training was increased for the employees in place.

Nevertheless, the Maersk industry focused on performance therefore for the employees

who underperformed were retrenched; this is an exercise that was never performed before. On

the other had hiring became a group function where rotational programs were incorporated hence

creating an employee culture in the industry. Under the new management, a few processes were

integrated to ensure talent management they included: attraction, identification development,

deployment and scenario planning.

Under Allen’s management the industry’s human resource a new recruitment process was

implemented. I would recommend the process implemented is effective despite the few

challenges that arise when it comes to deployment and many others (Bamberger, Biron, &

Meshoulam, 2014). The process led to improved performance and increased levels of

transparency and responsibility among the employees and managers.

All in all, it’s essential for the human resource department to be aligned with strategic

planning due to the numerous advantages it brings to the industry. On the other hand, for a

company to have employees who ensure excellent performance, transparency and take much

responsibility for what they do; the management must incorporate standards that will govern this

team. In instances where employees do not perform deployment is not exceptional.

Milestone 2:

It is important to do an assessment during an organization training for numerous reasons. It will

allow an organization to view which level an employer is on for the organization needs. It will

also allow an organization to not waste funds on people that do not qualify for the job. A training

needs assessment is a way to find the right person that has the right focus and amount of

experience for the job. The training also will show how fast a person is able to grasp the

materials needed to perform well. Most employees have some weaknesses or not enough

experience in their workplace environment. Training assessment accumulate information about a

particular job function. It is an analysis that identifies the key tasks, competencies and skills that

are required to perform the job proficiently. Training needs assessments are a dear means, but

also a necessity, in order to enhance, not only the existing but also, the predictable needs of the

organization. The components of the needs assessment to determine the training requirements of

a Customer Service- CARE Business Partner at Maersk is organizational and task analysis.

Organizational analysis is the process of reviewing the development, work environment,

personnel and operations of the business. Maersk provides a detailed description of the

organization. Maersk also explains what they have to offer and what they are looking for as far

as the job requirements. Maersk also provide job seekers a background of the company so that

they can kind of get an idea of what type of organization they are applying to. Task analysis is

the process of learning about ordinary users by observing them in action to understand in detail

how they perform their task and achieve their intended goals. The importance of creating

“SMART” objectives for training plan is beneficial to everyone in the organization. SMART

principle can help you organize and reach your goals one step at a time. Specific goal setting is

to plan exactly what is needed to accomplish the goal in the organization. It must be clear and

should not be uncertain so that you can know exactly what is expected from the goal. Measuring

goal setting is to determine the timeline of how long it may take to work on that particular goal

to be perfect. You would add dates for when work start, in progress, and completed. Achievable

goal settings are knowing that it can be done. They should be strained slightly so that they can

get a challenge out of it, but easy enough to where your able to accomplish the goal. Realistic

goal setting is real life goals and not make believe or a wish. It is a goal that is possible to

yourself. Time oriented goal setting is simply a deadline to getting something done. The

importance of developing learning activities for a Maersk Customer Service-CARE Business

Partner training program is to be able to offer good service as well as products to customers in

the market. Based on the job description you automatically assume that the organization is

looking for someone that already has experience in the required fields listed under the job.

Maersk is looking for someone that is already experienced which is common seeking for and

mature adult.

Milestone 3

HRM’s success in Performance Management.

The HRM is a vital organ of any given firm, concerned with every activity where people

are actively involved while the performance management system is involved in motivating,

training and ensuring the welfare of the employees in the firm. These two departments work hand

in hand to ensure maximum productivity. The role of HRM in Performance system is to provide

fair performance systems. This can be achieved ensuring reasonable working conditions. Also,

HRM is involved in training managers on the performance systems to ensure they properly handle

the employees assigned to them. Another lob of HR in PM is also making transparent production

processes to the workers. Managing relationships between employee and the manager are also

handled under this docket. The success of the firm solely depends on how motivated and educated

the employees are (Alfes et al. 2013). Making sure maximum productivity of each employee is

reached explains the role of HRM in performance management.

Performance appraisal processes define how an organization evaluates the employee's

strongholds and weaknesses based on performance with the aim of setting new goals (Alfes et al.,

2013. One type of an appraisal system is the trait-based; relies much on personal attributes such as

punctuality and helpfulness. Supervisors use checklists with ratings. The system is applicable in a

bank marketing situation where employees can be checked the based level of a minimum number

of people buying the product, opening different account types. Another performance appraisal

system is the Behavioral- Focused; rates employee’s actions with a rating scale. Graphics rating

employs a sliding scale ranging from excellent to poor with the exemplary employees rated

excellent, average at the middle and poor at the bottom. This system can be well suited for a

customer answering mode evaluation (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The system can be

programmed to evaluate and rate the quality of conversation through asking the client to assess the

employee’s delivery. Result based appraisal system measures performance by evaluating the

extent to which the predetermined objective established has been completed successfully. The

system is applicable in sales objective where a specific set amount say $100,000 is the set

minimum goal for each salesperson.

The most suitable appraisal system for any customer service company is the trait based.

Handling clients are susceptible and the key to keeping them in business, this is the reason the

trait-based system is best suited Maersk Customer Service-Care Business. The system picks the

best combination of elements required to gently handle and interact with clients and other workers

as well. To flourish, the customer care department of any business requires punctual, gentle, self-

motivated, reliable person to handle customers (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The customer relation

can be rated using a graphic rating scale that’s easy to interpret.

There is a variety of scales applicable to rate performance. They are quite easy to integrate

and maintain. Most of them have up-to five options; a definite description is necessary to enhance

effectiveness. Each has its merits and demerits. Both the numeric and letter scales are mostly used

in quantitative analysis of results. The difference is that the numeric scaling employs the use of

number while the message uses alphabets to rate the output. The scales vary between

organizations, but the standard approach is 5= excellent, 2= Average and 1= Poor while C=

satisfactory, B= good and A= Excellent for numeric and letter methods respectively. On the other

hand, the graphics approach can have a more extensive scale of points making it easy to use. It

gives space for the appraiser to mark to rate. The problem with this scale is that its prone to error

and may not accurately represent the employee's efforts. Finally, descriptive scales are detailed

and assigned a value and a small description. In this approach, the appraiser is not forced to

quantify performance.

Milestone 4

The compensation philosophy of Maersk describes a comprehensive policy document

that is established by the human resources in collaboration with the line managers to provide

guidelines for employee compensation in the company (Deb, 2009). Additionally, the

compensation philosophy describes the commitment of how Maersk values its employees. In the

case study, Maersk uses the compensation philosophy to explain how its total rewards are

structured in relationship to current market prices. Maersk relies on section 139 of the Danish

Companies Act to construct its specific agreements and policies about the all the incentives and

benefits of its employees.

In the case study, the compensation philosophy of Maersk comprises various components

that include the remuneration of the management board, short-term cash incentives, long-term

incentives, stock options and discretionary benefits. As with the remuneration of the

management board, the compensation philosophy allows the members of the management board

of Maersk to receive fixed base salaries. Additionally, each member of the board is eligible for

some incentive compensations that consist of the cash incentive opportunity. The short-term cash

incentives enable Maersk to incentivize high-performing members of the management board.

However, the compensation philosophy of Maersk is subject to the influence of the

market. The compensation philosophy changes as the market value of Maersk’s jobs change. The

human resources department of Maersk would increase the remunerations and benefits of

employees if its job positions became more competitive in the market. The increase in

remuneration and benefits aims to retain the talents and employees working for Maersk.

Furthermore, the increment of benefits and remuneration might attract new employees and

talents.

The Value of the Salary Surveys to an Organization

Salary surveys involve gathering information regarding employee compensation, with

several employers to determine the pay levels for job categories (Gueutal & Stone, 2005).

According to Gueutal and Stone (2005), salary surveys are conducted by sector, region or even

job classification to facilitate comparability of salaries. Hence, salary surveys provide an

essential and necessary information for building competitive pay structures for an organization.

Fundamentally, properly designed salary surveys enable an organization to formulate an

effective compensation plan (Gueutal & Stone, 2005). Gueutal and Stone (2005) argue that

salary surveys ensure that the compensation plan is internally equitable and externally

competitive. Conversely, lack of salary surveys might lead an organization to formulate a

compensation plan that is internally unequitable, and that is not competitive externally. When

designed and utilized properly, salary surveys could provide meaningful and useful

benchmarking information to organizations for comparing various salaries and benefits (Gueutal

& Stone, 2005). Lastly, salary surveys enable an organization to retain, attract, and motivate

employees.

The process of comparing different organizational roles to the salary surveys market data

help an organization to construct a competitive compensation plan. However, an organization

requires having a deep understanding of its compensation philosophy before tailoring a

compensation strategy (Gueutal & Stone, 2005). The second step involves defining the major

COMPENSATION PHILOSOPHY OF MAERSK 4

roles within the organization including the current job descriptions for each job position.

Accurate job description information facilitates the process of comparing market data and how

the organization is paying its employees.

Advantages of the Discretionary Benefits to Maersk

Discretionary employee benefits are benefits that the law does not necessitate the

employers to provide to their employees (Battaglio, 2015). Maersk is one of the organizations

that provide the discretionary benefits. Most people would think that discretionary benefits are

useful to the employees only. According to Battaglio (2015), discretionary benefits are also

advantageous to an organization. One of the advantages of discretionary benefits to Maersk

includes building positive relationships. In the case study, there is a positive relationship between

Maersk and its employees. Secondly, discretionary benefits boost productivity (Stewart, 2008).

The employees of Maersk are becoming more productive after receiving discretionary benefits

because they are motivated to perform better. Lastly, Maersk can match competitors’ benefits.

As such, Maersk can attract and retain the best employees. Provision of discretionary benefits

allows Maersk to gain a more competitive advantage than its competitors that do not offer

discretionary benefits.