HR Value Adding Chain - Free Essay Example

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

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1.0 Introduction.

The department of any organization that forms the backbone of its success or failure and any enterprise that manages its pool of employees unfavorably risk losing them to competitors is a human resource (Wang, 2011). Talented employees must be managed and catered for adequately for they are the most important cog in the wheels of an organization who enhance and create the competitive advantage that the company enjoys. Porter (1985) supposes a concept famously known as the value chain. The concept was developed as an analytical instrument to measure how effective several activities of an organization are and the contributing factor in increasing the productivity and giving the organization a competitive advantage over its competitors. A link exist between the primary and the secondary activities and can best be understood by taking a look at Porters model; where you first classify each sub-activity within primary activity and further make a determination which precise sub-activity generate value, secondly classify each sub-activity within secondary activity and determine those sub-activities that generate value within every primary activity, then thirdly you make a connection between the value activities identified, and finally, you identify the links that can be altered to maximize the services and values to the customers (Kochanski, 2009).

Value chain concept has been applied to the human department and led to what is called HR value chain, which is a support activity in Porters value chain framework. The application in the human department of a company focuses on the dimensions of recruiting targets, talent attraction, performance enhancement, talent identification, high-accuracy employment, succession in management and career acceleration. A success organization is that its leadership is alive to the necessity of maximizing the HR value chain through a well thought and disciplined approach (Abdul-Jalal, Toulson and Tweed, 2013). there is a well-accepted fact that value chain efforts, in fact, need to commence in the human resource department so that well skilled, educated and experienced employees who have been proportionately enumerated will handle effectively the job preferred upon them (Humanresourcesiq.com, 2016).

1.1 Significance of the Study

Dr. Gregory Lee, a leading scholar in human resource, acknowledges the imperative role played HR value for the success of an organization to be achieved. He pegs productivity on HR beliefs, the HR programs and the degree HR concern for employees well-being. These aspects he argues have a direct impact on customer relations, production of goods and services and overall financial gain of an organization (Wang, 2011). An HR department that poorly attends to employees needs often lead the organization to a certain path of failure since the employees are not adequately motivated to work. In UAE, there is a very little body of knowledge about the interaction between HR value chain, productivity and the attainment of competitive advantage of companies, this study endeavors to explore this question.

1.2 Research Problem

The research question of this study is:

How does perception of HR value chain in an organizations human resource impact on its productivity and degree of competitive advantage?

1.3 Aims of the Research

The aim of these study is to interrogate the relationship between the perception of HR value chain in an organization components including its HR department, its strategy and its performance against its chief competitors for a company in the UAE.

1.4 Research Objectives

To comprehensively examine the relationship between the perception of HR value chain in an organization components including its HR department, its strategy, and its performance, the study will employ quantitative and qualitative research instruments using a survey. One company, which will remain anonymous will be chosen, and the opinions of a number of their employees sought .To ensure the survey yields honest answers and opinions that are unbiased from the respondents, their anonymity during the study will be guaranteed. Printed questionnaires will be the main source of data during the survey. Upon data collection and analysis, recommendations will be developed to encourage companies to inculcate value chain principles in their HR departments to maximize their productivity and strengthen their competitive advantage in UAE.

1.5 Research Questions

Is there a statistical relationship between the perception on the HR department and organizational productivity?

How does perception of Value Chain influence the programs of an HR department?

How does perception of Value Chain influence the formulation of an organization strategy?

How does perception of Value Chain influence the productive performance of an organization?

CHAPTER 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS

This portion of the research focuses on existing body knowledge and past research on the concepts of a firms productivity, perception of the influence of value chain on a firms organization strategy and human resource strategy, productive performance, and programs developed by the human department.

2.1 Productive Performance

Productive performance is simply the productivity of a firm. The concept of productivity in a firm is always associated with the efficient use of physical, natural, capital and human resources at the disposal of an organization. Productivity is defined as the ratio of output to the input of a given production line. It is a norm that whenever efficient use of resources is increased there is a consequential increase in productivity (Bain, 2009). The programs, values, strategies and management style of a human resource department that aims to get the best out of its employees will certainly enhance the efficiency of their pool of human resource. Employees who work to achieve the productivity goals of an organization are arguably those who are well motivated by the instruments management to work efficiently (Wright, Boxall and Purcell, 2003). Boxall and Purcell purport that among the critical roles of a human resource department is labor productivity. An organization should use the least amount of cost to motivate efficiency among its work force thus increasing their labor productivity. Value chain activities such as attracting and employing the right talented and skilled employees, employing a grounded culture of requiring employees to have clarity on the organizations mission and fundamental core values of the organization, have proven to promote the efficiency of the workforce. Therefore, it could be argued that growth in productivity is hinged on the efficiency of work force and adoption of best practices.

2.2 The Perception of HR value chain on the Human Resource Department.

The human resource department is an integral part in constructing and implementing any policies geared towards value chain in the organization. The efforts actively engaged by the human resource department to enhance value chain are particularly important in shaping the perceptions that employees, consultants, creditors and customers will have on the organization. An organizations determination to develop a blueprint to execute its strategies that guide in talent attraction, identification, hiring and motivation to ensure an organization has the most qualified pool of employees who are adequately skilled to perform thei...