Strategic Human Resource Management and Employee Motivation at Samsung

This report provides an overview of Samsung's human resource management (HRM) practices, focusing on strategic HRM, performance management, career development, diversity, and work-life balance. It examines how Samsung motivates and rewards its employees, even during challenging ...Read More

Running head: MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES
Managing Human Resources
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES
Executive summary
The aim of this report is to focus on some of the basic Human Resource concepts. The focus of
the discussion is held around Samsung, who has offered rewards for the employees despite of
having a non-profitable financial year. With the help of the study material provided from the
class and journal articles topics such as strategic human resource, performance management,
career development, importance of diversity and work-life balance is discussed. The importance
of motivation and rewards in generating job satisfaction and ensuring employee retention is also
discussed.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Strategic human resource management...........................................................................................3
Human resource challenges faced by the electronic and technologies industry..............................5
Importance of diversity and work-life balance................................................................................6
Performance management...............................................................................................................7
Career opportunities.........................................................................................................................7
Motivation and reward.....................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Reference list:................................................................................................................................11

3MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES
Introduction
For this assignment the article that is selected deals with the performance and rewards.
Human Resource management of an organisation is not only responsible for recruiting people;
this department is also associated with the well-being and conflict resolution of the employees as
well. The employees of an organisation are responsible for the daily operations of the business
and hence it is the responsibility of the management to ensure that the people are encouraged and
motivated at every point, the impact of motivation and encourage has impacts that is of two fold,
from the employees perspective the performance is improved which will ensure career
development and growth. From the perspective of the organisation, employee retention is
important and motivation and rewards. Appreciation form the employer in terms of material
goods or motivational words impact the employees to a large extent, Samsung mobile’s
declaration of bonus and rewards for the employees even after the company did not do well in
the financial year is an example of such encouragement (Purce, 2014). These bonuses are entitled
to the departments who have achieved and exceeded the internal profit targets. Samsung group is
a South Korean organisation that has been established in 1938, the organisation has received
recognition and worldwide popularity owing to their adaptation of the dynamics in the Mobile
phone industry (Samsung.com, 2018).
Strategic human resource management
This is the process by which an organisation has a planned set of human resource
strategies in place that will help the company develop and value relationship and commitment
from the employees which will in turn drive the organisation towards the collective objective and
goals. The Human resource department of the company is focused on the people associated with

4MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES
the organisation and all their policies and decisions that are made are all in sync with the well
being of the people. In order to create a value relationship with the employees Samsung ensures
that the work environment and the work culture is healthy, the HRM department looks after the
health and safety of the people working for the company as well (Jackson et al., 2014). The
commitment and the performance in the organisation is not only recognized but also rewarded in
order to do this the HR department maintains employees’ records and performance evaluation
procedures. In Samsung the formulation of strategic management policies are based on the
objective and the aims of the organisation (Jackson et al., 2014). These objectives are as follows:
 To redefine the future of electronics
 To incorporate the HR and innovation in order develop premium products and services
 To ensure development and management of the people associated with the organisation
 To strive towards a sustainable future
The tagline that defines the organisation is “inspired by people, creating the future”. As
innovation is a large part of the operations of the business the HRM policies are also formulated
such the people working for the company are always inspired to create and innovate.
The undying spirit of the organisation is highlighted in the Strategic Human Resource
Management and the news article as well. Though the words that was chosen to explain the
decision was not motivation but despite of the situation the company was facing form the
financial point of the view the management did not decide to lay off people is inspiring (Marler
& Fisher, 2013).

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The micro and macro business environmental factors such as the case of Samsung rise of
cheap Chinese vendors in the new market is one of the major issues of the fall in the profit
margins of the company (Marler & Fisher, 2013).
Human resource challenges faced by the electronic and technologies industry
The industry in which Samsung operates if the electronics and technology industry. The
dynamics of the business environment are majorly impacted in the organisations operating in this
industry. In Samsung the relationship in between the employer and the employee is formal in
nature as there is a rigid form of corporate culture prevalent in the organisation.
One of the most notable challenges that are faced by the electronics and technology
industry is that there is a dearth of skilled employees and a gap in skill development and training
programs in the companies as well (Lenz, 2016).
The industry has been infamous for having lengthy working hours and less flexibility in
the working hours owing to the constant need of human resource in the industry round the clock.
Stress and time management of the employees working in this industry has evolved to be
one of the major issues in the department, people talk about stress and the absence of the work-
life balance in this industry.
The measurement of the performance of the employees has also been one of the
challenges in the industry; the HR department in Samsung is responsible for not only ensuring
performance measurement but also making the process transparent and clear to the employees so
that there are no opportunities of conflict.

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The corporate or organization culture that prevalent in the organisation is another barrier
that is faced by the companies operating in the electronics and technology. A rigid corporate
culture observed in an organisation can also be a reason for the loss of profitability of the
business as well (Marler & Fisher, 2013).
Importance of diversity and work-life balance
In Australia there has been a noted dearth of women in the top level managerial positions,
Gail Kelly, CEO of Westpac has explained the gap in various books and interviews. Kelly while
serving her tenure incorporated the measure in the organisation in order to ensure that there is
gender equality in the organisation. Diversity encourages the people of the organisation to
maintain a healthy and culturally diverse group in the work environment. Diversity among the
people not only helps the organisation to have different approach and perspective towards a
challenge it also helps the organisation to deal with various types of clients (Kundu & Mor,
2017).
To lessen the work load and stress work and life balance is very important, it is the duty
of the HR department to ensure that the employees of the organisation are maintaining the
balance; there are recreational events and sports events organized by organisation which are
meant to de-stress. In order to ensure that the employees are committed towards the organisation
and they share similar goals. The leave facility and the holidays of the organisation is an
important aspect, which can be considered while evaluating the work-life balance. Part-time job,
flexible job hours, work from home facilities, employee assistance program etc are present in the
various departments of Samsung, depending on the nature of the work, the organisation provides
facilities to the employees (Mas-Machuca et al., 2016).

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Performance management
The performance of the people who are working for Samsung are evaluated according to
the department they are working in just like the division stated in the news story. Feedback and
appraisal at the end of the year is dependent on the performance that is measured and the record
that has been collected by the HR department. Few of the important aspects of performance
management in Samsung are clarity, definition, quality. According to the model of performance
management individual behavior is dependent on organisational strategy and situational
conditions; whereas individual attributes like skills and expertise build individual behavior which
further leads to objective results. The performance management of an employee acts as a reality
check for the employee he or she recognizes the areas they need to improve as well as they
understand which are the points they excel in and hence use it as an opportunity (Gerrish, 2016).
As Samsung is an organisation that is driven by innovation and creativity the company
encourages the employees to incorporate their creativity in dealing with challenges and
problems.
Career opportunities
In order to build a sustainable future and better technology for the mass the company
provides vocational training and local employment, during 2016, Samsung has provided support
to more than 34 thousand students from over 54 countries. This program of Samsung in turn
helps in creating jobs opportunities, these training programs are developed based on the country
the students are from so that the students are ready for the industry (Silvennoinen & Nori, 2017).
Organization should provide opportunity for the employees to develop and grow in their
career this is directly related to the performance management. This is another way to ensure that

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the organisation retain the employees because lack of growth opportunities in the organisation is
one of the reason why employees are unsatisfied with their jobs and tend to leave the
organisation in the long-run. The goal of such a training program is to improve the knowledge
and channelize the expertise of the employees; it also helps in developing an attitude towards the
job which positively impacts both the employer and the employee (Amini & Soltani, 2016).

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Motivation and reward
Job satisfaction among the employees of an organization comes from several factors such
as work culture, work environment, career development opportunities, job role etc. Appreciation
and motivation for the effort that the employee gives ensure positivity and better performance in
the long run. Job satisfaction among the employees is dependent largely on the incentive
structure of the company (Gîlmeanu, 2015). The pay scale, the bonus and the rewards that are
offered to the employees as it is one of the ways of expressing appreciation of the efforts that the
employees put in achieving the objective of the company. The company in return receives
commitment and encouraged employees who strive to work hard and improve the performance
(Hewett & Conway, 2016). In the case of Samsung, the company had decided to cut the bonus
structure to 3percent for a division that was not performing well owing to the fall in the profit in
the particular financial year whereas; there is a division that had received 45 percent bonus in the
same financial year. When companies do not find a division of their operation profitable they
usually terminate the job of many people from that division in order to maintain the profitability,
Samsung in this case is not terminating people as they are a company that is known to be driven
by their work force. The bonus pay structure that they have chosen to implement for the year is
based on the performance of the division; the division that has bought maximum profitability to
the company has received the maximum amount of bonus (Yoon et al., 2015). According to the
officials they do not believe that bonus is a direct reflection of motivation among the employees
of Samsung, if that would be the case the division receiving the least amount of bonus would
perform poorly in the next financial year. If the company follows the concepts of a balanced
scorecard then the performance measure of the division collectively will give the clear picture
(Mafini & Dlodlo, 2014). In this case the X and Y theory of motivation can help explain the

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situation. Douglas McGregor in his famous theory of X and Y of motivation states that there are
two ways by which an employee may behave at the place of work. Theory X is the negative
approach whereas theory Y is the positive approach. The X theory explains that employees are
generally not motivated; they require a formal direction as they dislike responsibilities and resists
changes. On the other hand the Y theory explains the opposite it discusses the internal motivation
to perform well and improve the career, and is usually committed towards the company (Lawter
et al., 2015).
The urge to perform well and the recognition of the fact that the company is bearing the
loss that is undertaken by the division is the positive theory in the case of Samsung. This
situation may be used as a positive sing as well because the company could terminate a lot of
people but they did not rather they have received some portion of their bonus (Gov, 2015).
Conclusion
Form the above discussion it can be concluded that the Human resource department of an
organisation does not only work on the basis of strategic management, the department is a
reflection of the principles and the values of a company. The decisions taken by the department
directly impacts the performance of the employees and the commitment of the employees
towards the organisation and hence it is expected that they will be fair and transparent in their
actions. Rewards are extrinsic motivation and are not entirely responsible for the encouragement
and inspiration of the employees to improve their performance.

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Reference list:
Amini, S., & Soltani, H. (2016). The mediating role of innovation about between understanding
knowledge management and environmental leadership whit performance management
system. International Journal of Education and Management Studies, 6(3), 316-320.
Gerrish, E. (2016). The impact of performance management on performance in public
organizations: A meta-analysis. Public Administration Review, 76(1), 48-66.
Gov, O. (2015). The complex relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards 1. Economics
and Business Review, 1(4), 102-125.
Hewett, R., & Conway, N. (2016). The undermining effect revisited: The salience of everyday
verbal rewards and self-determined motivation. Journal of Organizational
Behavior, 37(3), 436-455.
Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Jiang, K. (2014). An aspirational framework for strategic human
resource management. Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 1-56.
Kundu, S. C., & Mor, A. (2017). Workforce diversity and organizational performance: A study
of IT industry in india. Employee Relations, 39(2), 160-183.
Lawter, L., Kopelman, R. E., & Prottas, D. J. (2015). McGregor's theory X/Y and job
performance: A multilevel, multi-source analysis. Journal of Managerial Issues, 27(1-4),
84-101,7

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Lenz, S., Pinhanez, M., De Césaris, L.,Enrique Urtubey, & Jacobs, C. (2016). Open innovation
and the challenges of human resource management. International Journal of Innovation
Management, 20(7), 1.
Mafini, C., & Dlodlo, N. (2014). The relationship between extrinsic motivation, job satisfaction
and life satisfaction amongst employees in a public organisation.SA Journal of Industrial
Psychology, 40(1), 1-13.
Manea, R. (2015). Theoretical considerations on motivation at the work place, job satisfaction
and individual performance. Valahian Journal of Economic Studies, 6(3), 69-80.
Marler, J. H., & Fisher, S. L. (2013). An evidence-based review of e-HRM and strategic human
resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 23(1), 18-36.
Mas-Machuca, M., Berbegal-Mirabent, J., & Alegre, I. (2016). Work-life balance and its
relationship with organizational pride and job satisfaction. Journal of Managerial
Psychology, 31(2), 586-602.
Purce, J. (2014). The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New
Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.
Samsung.com. (2018). About Us. www.samsung.com. Retrieved 17 January 2018, from
http://www.samsung.com/aboutsamsung/home/
Silvennoinen, H., & Nori, H. (2017). In the margins of training and learning.Journal of
Workplace Learning, 29(3), 185-199.
Yoon, H. J., Sung, S. Y., Choi, J. N., Lee, K., & Kim, S. (2015). Tangible and intangible rewards
and employee creativity: The mediating role of situational extrinsic motivation.

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