Managing Employee Behaviour: Challenges and Recommendations

This report discusses the importance of employees, challenges faced by HR managers in managing employee behaviour, and recommendations to address these challenges. It highlights the importance of hiring and retaining talented employees, and the challenges faced by managers in managing employee behaviour, such as lack of communication, diversity issues, non-recognition of good performance, and lack of motivation. The report provides recommendations to address these challenges, such as setting up performance review programs, embracing diversity, dividing employees into small groups based on their personalities, implementing ‘hierarchy of needs’ theory to motivate employees, and establishing communication channels.

Managing Employee Behaviour

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Employees are an Important Asset.............................................................................................3
Challenge in Managing Employee Behaviour...........................................................................3
Recommendations......................................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
In today’s highly competitive and fast pacing business world, hiring and retaining highly
talented employees are the primary focus of corporations. They implement different business
strategies in order to ensure that they attract and hire qualified employees from all across the
globe which assist them in generating and maintaining a competitive advantage (Alfes et al.,
2013). Only hiring of talented employees is not enough; corporations are required to retain
them because they are an important asset to the company. In order to retain qualified
employees, the top level management focuses on effectively managing the behaviour of
employees which assists in successfully operating the operations of the business. However,
while implementing these policies, the human resource managers face a number of challenges
while managing employee behaviour. Thus, the HR managers are required to implement
effective human resource management policies in order to ensure that they successfully
manage the behaviour of employees by encouraging them to achieve the common
organisational objectives and establishing a positive working environment (King and Grace,
2012). In this report, the importance of the employees will be discussed. This report will
evaluate the challenges faced by the HR managers while managing the behaviour of
employees. Furthermore, various recommendations will be given to address the challenges
faced by the HR managers.
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Employees are an Important Asset
Employees in an organisation perform various activities relating to production, customer
service, information technology, sales, finance, marketing, and human resources.
Organisations rely on competitive advantage in order to increase their profitability for which
it is important for them to hire right people at the right time and appoint them to the right
place. By employing a right employee at the right place, the management can improve the
performance of employees which assist them in performing better and coming up with
innovative ideas which assist in promoting the success of the corporation (King and Grace,
2012). Many large enterprises such as Apple, Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, and others focus
on effectively managing their human resources in order to generate and maintain a
competitive advantage. For example, Google is considered as one of the best companies to
work for because the company offers a number of benefits to its employees that resulted in
attracting talented employees from all across the globe to the company. It assists in making
Google one of the most profitability enterprises in the world. Therefore, employees are
considered as an important asset in the organisations which required the management to
implement effective policies for managing the behaviour of employees at the workplace
(Shields et al., 2015). It is important for companies that employees have a positive behaviour
in the workplace which assists them in increasing their productivity and achieving common
organisational objectives.
Challenge in Managing Employee Behaviour
Employee satisfaction is a vital element for the success of an enterprise based on which a
corporation can generate a competitive advantage. There are a number of challenges faces by
a manager while managing the employee behaviour. Firstly, enterprises focus on hiring
qualified employees who assist the company in achieving its corporate objectives. Many
times employees did not perform better or give their best to the organisation which affects its
profitability (Bolino, Valcea and Harvey, 2010). One of the challenges faced by managers is
confronting employees regarding their performance problem. While confronting an employee
who is performing poorly, the manager has to make sure that he/she did not make him feel
bad or defensive about his/her work. Effectively handling the situation in which the manager
is able to understand the issue of employee and resolve such issue is difficult due to which it
is difficult for the manager to handle the behaviour of employees. In case the manager did not
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effectively confront the employee regarding his performance issues, then it could lead to
conflict between the manager and the employee. In case the matter is handled poorly then it
could lead to establishing a negative environment in the workplace, and the employee might
also give resignation. Another key issue which is faced by the HR managers especially in the
multinational enterprise is effective management of diversity issues. Organisations are
expanding their operations in different countries, and they are hiring talented employees
throughout the world which increases the requirement of effective diversity management at
the workplace (Tyler and Blader, 2013).
The manager faces difficulty in managing issues among employees who are from different
background, culture, race, caste or gender. Effective management of diversity at the
workplace is important because it ensures that a positive working environment is established
at the workplace in which employees support each other rather than mistreat others. Lack of
diversity policies resulted in poor performance of employees due to which the performance of
the enterprise suffers as well. The manager also faces issues in controlling the performance of
employees because each worker has a different personality and the manager is required to
assign them positions in which their personalities did not contradict each other (Kehoe and
Wright, 2013). Motivation is another key challenge which is faced by managers in modern
enterprises. Highly motived employees perform at their highest capacity which is beneficial
for the company. However, it is difficult for managers to motivate employees especially
highly qualified employees because monetary incentives do not motivate them. Furthermore,
acknowledging the hard work of an employee and recognising it in front of other is another
issue which is faced by the managers especially in large corporations. It is difficult for
managers to monitor the performance of employees and recognising the workers who
performed better than others. Non-recognition of the hard work can demotivate employees
that made it difficult for them to become motivated to perform better (King and Grace, 2012).
Lack of communication is another issue because the employees are not able to communicate
the issues faced by them to the top level management which resulted in creating a negative
working environment in which it is difficult for employees to perform better.
Recommendations
Following recommendations can assist the managers in addressing the issues relating to
managing employee behaviour:
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1. Setting up a monthly or quarterly review program in which the manager evaluates the
performance of employees. Due to the establishment of these programs, employees
will know that their performance will be evaluated by the managers which would
reduce conflict between them. It will also assist the managers in confronting
employees about their poor performance. It will provide them a platform to discuss
the poor performance of employees, understanding the issues faced by them and
resolving them to improve their performance. It would also reduce the conflicts
between employees and the management (Mone and London, 2018).
2. Modern organisations should embrace diversity by establishing appropriate policies
which promote and supports diversity in the workplace. The company should ensure
that people from different culture, background, caste, religion or gender are not
discriminated at the workplace, and they are receiving equal opportunities. Strict
actions should be taken against employees who breached the diversity policies at the
workplace.
3. Each person has a different personality, and the manager should realise this fact, and
they should implement business policies by evaluating the personality of employees.
For example, giving managerial roles to an introvert person is wrong because they
will face issues in dealing with employees. Creating small groups of people with
different personalities assist the managers in creating a collaborative environment
which promotes the performance of employees (Alfes et al., 2013).
4. Motivation is a key factor which assists in promoting the success of a company. The
managers should implement ‘Maslow Hierarchy of Needs’ theory for addressing the
need of each employee and fulfilling such needs to motivate employees. The
managers can motivate employees by fulfilling their needs which assist in improving
their performance and the profitability of the corporation (Shields et al., 2015).
5. Managers should establish multiple communication channels in the workplace for
promoting upward communication which would assist them in understanding the
issue of employees. Employees will be able to tell their grievances to the top level
management, and appropriate policies will be implemented by them to address their
issues. Managers should hold regular meeting with employees to understand their
issues and implement appropriate policies to resolve such issues.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, employees are a key asset for an organisation due to which the managers focus
on implementing appropriate policies for effectively managing their behaviour. By
successfully managing the behaviour of employees, corporations can improve the
performance of their employees which assist in improving the performance of the company
as well. While managing the behaviour of employees, managers face a number of challenges
such as lack of communication channels, diversity issues, negative working environment,
non-recognition of good performance, lack of motivation, confronting employees regarding
their poor performance, and negative working environment. In order to address these issues,
companies can set up monthly or quarterly performance review program which will provide
them the opportunity to confront employees regarding their poor performance. Strict diversity
policies and the dividing employees into small groups based on their personalities will also
assist them managers in handling the behaviour of employees. The managers can implement
‘hierarchy of needs’ theory to motivate employees by fulfilling their needs. The can also
establish communication channels and hold regular meetings with employees to improve the
communication at the workplace. These factors assist in effectively managing the behaviour
of employees at the workplace and sustaining the growth of the enterprise.
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References
Alfes, K., Shantz, A.D., Truss, C. and Soane, E.C. (2013) The link between perceived human
resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated
mediation model. The international journal of human resource management, 24(2), pp.330-
351.
Bolino, M., Valcea, S. and Harvey, J. (2010) Employee, manage thyself: The potentially
negative implications of expecting employees to behave proactively. Journal of Occupational
and Organizational Psychology, 83(2), pp.325-345.
Kehoe, R.R. and Wright, P.M. (2013) The impact of high-performance human resource
practices on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Journal of management, 39(2), pp.366-391.
King, C. and Grace, D. (2012) Examining the antecedents of positive employee brand-related
attitudes and behaviours. European Journal of Marketing, 46(3/4), pp.469-488.
Mone, E.M. and London, M. (2018) Employee engagement through effective performance
management: A practical guide for managers. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P.,
Johns, R., O'Leary, P., Robinson, J. and Plimmer, G. (2015) Managing Employee
Performance & Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Tyler, T. and Blader, S. (2013) Cooperation in groups: Procedural justice, social identity,
and behavioral engagement. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
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