Introduction


            The paper tackles the impact of individual values and organizational factors in the decision-making process regarding Human Resource issues in organizations. The paper focuses on the individual values of managers and HR decision-making. Decision making according to Ranyard et al (1997) is fundamental to modern life in its individual collective and corporate aspects. Decision making according to Galotti (2002) refers to the mental activities that take place in choosing among alternatives.  Managers face numerous challenges in making decisions. One of these is balancing their individual values and organizational goals in making decisions for the organization and its employees. Decision making according to Sims (1994) is one of the most important of all individual and group efforts within an organization.


 


Rational Decision-Making


            A rational decision is one that occurs in ordered steps and maximizes a value, whether it is honesty, efficiency, reliability, controllability, marketability, or any of many other values. Adherence to any value involves promoting one alternative over another. In general, the rational decision-making process is made up of six steps. In this process, each step provides an opportunity for the decision maker to change which value he or she wants to adhere to. The steps are:


1. Define the problem – In this step, the decision-maker isolates the key factors in question and diagnoses the situation in order to define the basic problem and to identify the limits of the situation. This step allows the decision-maker to focus on the problem that he or she wants to solve.


2. Identify the goal to be achieved – In this step, the decision maker identifies the goal that he or she wants to achieve. This is important, as the goal will guide the actions of the decision-maker. 


3. List all possible solutions to the problem – All alternatives that will address the problem and achieve the goal are placed under consideration.


4. Evaluate each alternative to determine which one best meets the requirements of the situation – This step requires a thorough analysis of each alternative. The analysis involves measuring the benefits, costs, and risks of each as well as identifying the likely intended and unintended consequences of each. This step provides information about the utility of each alternative in terms of the efficiency with which it maximizes desired values and still achieves the goal.


5. Identify the one course of action that is most likely to produce the desired consequences within the constraints of the situation – In this step, the decision maker selects the alternative that maximizes the most important values and holds the most promise of achieving the goal, while solving the problem as effectively as possible.


6. Make a commitment to the choice and implement it – This step requires converting the decision into action (Guy 1990 pp. 28-30).


 


The Decision-Maker


            The decision maker is seen as an individual working either alone or as a member of a group. In all decision-making activities, the decision maker has to make up his or her mind, and then differences of opinion are resolved in some manner that depends upon the dynamic of the group. Groups are the contexts within which individual members’ decisions become consolidated to form a group product (Beach 1990; Beach and Mitchell 1990; Davis 1992).


 


Values and Decision-Making


            Values are defined by Rokeah (1973) as enduring beliefs that are focused on a specific mode of conduct or desirable end state of existence. Values are acquired and hierarchically organized to become somehow part of a relatively enduring system. Values are core beliefs about what is intrinsically desirable. They underlie the choices made in work decisions just as they underlie the choices made in ones private life (Guy 1990). According to Schwartz (1994) values are constructed through a combination of social and psychological conflicts, experienced by the individual expressing these values. Over time, these conflicts and harmonies among value priorities result in a structure or value system – such structures providing an individual with an ordered framework for decision-making. It follows that values must influence decision-making (McGuire et al 2006).


            According to Beach (1996) each decision maker possesses values that define how things should be and how people ought to behave. These values together with individual morals and ethics and so on are collectively known as principles, self-evident truths about what he or she (or the group) stands for, about the goals that are therefore worthy of pursuit, and about what are and what are not acceptable ways of pursuing those goals.


            Values are believed to have a significant impact on managerial decision-making on HR issues at deeper more personal levels (McGuire et al 2006). In terms of decision-making, there is an increasing consensus that a good decision maker is not just someone who can rationally assess choices, or make the most logical decision given for that moment, but someone who can arrive at a decision through balancing competing values and goals (Hartmann and Patrickson 1998; Cohen 1993). Contemporary perspectives on decision-making increasingly acknowledge a socially constructed reality that emphasizes the contextual nature of decision-making and the important role played by values in driving decision-making process (Tacconi 1996).


 


Organizational Factors and Decision-Making


            Wilcocks (1998) argues that managerial decision-making is not the result of impersonal, deterministic and objective forces, but rather is socially constructed and created by human agency. An organization’s culture affect how decision-making happens within that organization. An organization’s culture consists of the organizationally relevant beliefs and values that are mutually understood and subscribed to by its members (Schneider 1990; Trice and Beyer 1993). As such the culture prescribes what is true, necessary, and desirable and, therefore, the goals one ought to pursue and how one ought to go about pursuing them (Campbell and Nash 1992). The organization’s culture is the beliefs and values that are shared, to one degree or other, by the members of the organization. Like the


 


Values and Human Resource Management


            The HRM field has increasingly become values driven with employee-centered HRM practices increasing advocated. In recent years, there have been changes in how employees are managed in the organizations. These is due to the changing business environment and the increasing pressure on organizations by the government and other regulating bodies to develop more employee-centered policies and practices. These changes reverberated in the area of Human Resource Management. Indeed, the HR department has undergone changes and the HR Manager’s roles and responsibilities have changed over the years. There is also a major change in Human Resource Development (HRD) as more and more organizations are taking the Humanistic value-based approach to HRD (McGuire et al 2005). Ulrich (1997) argues that the HR Manager of today needs to fulfill new roles. Ulrich’s (1997) model of HR roles seeks to focus HR delivery on a framework that promotes specialist knowledge and positions it to deliver on the challenges presented to HR. These challenges are:



  • Strategy

  • Financial Performance

  • Change Management

  • Business Performance Improvement


In Ulrich’s model, each role combines to focus on delivering improvement with the function and within the business. The new roles of the HR manager according to Ulrich (1997) are:


1. Strategic Partner – by having a strategic partner who clearly focuses ob strategic issues, HR is able to tackle them. As strategic partners, HR managers understand the critical factors affecting organizational competitiveness and communicate benefits that change strategies and interventions provide to the firm. Strategic partners thoroughly understand business fundamentals, core processes, operations and procedures (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).


2. Administrative Expert – through an administrative expert, the HR function is able to demonstrate it is supporting financial goals of the company by focusing on having efficient and high quality service.


3. Employee Champion – through the employee champion role, the HR function is able to focus on the employee relationship and improving employee capability. Human resource managers, according to Ulrich (1997), are in a unique position to serve as employee champions. As such, they reveal the correct balance between work demands and resources, identifying legitimate demands on employees and helping these workers focus by setting priorities. Employee champions also distinguish creative ways of leveraging resources so that employees do not feel overwhelmed by what is expected of them.


4. Change Agent – the change agent role allows the function to meet the challenges of the changing business environment and positioning the business to execute strategy. In the role of change agent, HR managers exercise the greatest organizational impact and influence. When HR managers act as change agents, they establish high credibility within the organization and great influence with key decision makers, line managers, and employees (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).


 


Skills Competencies and Knowledge of an Effective HR Manager


1. Strategic Partner


            HR managers and professionals add value to the organization by understanding business operations. HR managers need to gain operational experience in functional areas such as marketing, finance, operations, and sales. HR managers must understand business conditions to generate pertinent, practical solutions for the stakeholders. The HR manager needs to understand stakeholder needs and expectations. The HR manager needs to be aware of the financial and business issues the organization faces. Moreover, the HR manager needs to long-term solutions to difficult problems (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).


 


2. Employee Champion


            To be effective employee champions, HR managers develop client relationship skills such as listening, reflecting, questioning, and summarizing to build mutual acceptance and positive regard with the stakeholders (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).


 


3. Administrative Expert/ Performance Consultant


Effective performance consultants remain partial, regardless of their values and biases, and in spite of an organization’s culture, traditions, and vested interests. Human resource manager know where to go for information, insight, recommendations, or coaching in order to avoid pitfalls common in organizational life. They must be operationally smart, possessing organizational awareness that helps them better understand the political structure, decision-making, or procedures. Additional development competencies and skills are necessary for the performance consulting role. These abilities include interpersonal, conceptual, technical, integrative, analytical, political awareness, and conflict resolution skills. (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).


 


4. Change Agent


            The role of change agent requires knowledge of HR practices, partnering and negotiating skills, business acumen, client relationships, and organizational development (Gilley and Maycunich 2000).


 


            Indeed the roles of the HR Manager in the organization have changed. The HR Manager of today is managing with the aim of balancing the organization’s goals and objectives with the welfare and development of the employees. Because of these changes, the management style of organizations has shifted from bureaucratic to more participative, employee-centered approaches. Ranney and Carlson (1992) argue that an organization’s HR policies, practices and rules are good indicators of its approach to dealing with people and human behavior. An organization’s managerially directed actions affect employee perceptions leading to a strengthening or readjustment of individual values.


 


Employee Empowerment and Employee Decision Making


            As a result of the shift in HR practices and procedures and the changes in the roles and responsibilities of the HR Manager, the employees are granted with more authority in making decisions especially in issues that relate to their jobs. Empowerment generally connotes the granting of authority or ability. Employee empowerment, therefore, means the transferring of some managerial authority, prerogative, or ability to employees (Peter et al 2002). There are different dimensions of empowerment:


1. Power – On the simplest level, employee empowerment is simply granting power to those doing the work (Block 1987). This dimension envisions a mechanistic model of a bureaucratic organization, with the top levels granting limited power and holding individuals closely accountable (Ettorre 1997).


2. Decision-Making – The most common dimension of empowerment is decision-making. Empowerment is the granting of authority to make decisions. Through empowerment, employees feel that they are involved in making decisions Herrenkohl et al 1999).


3. Autonomy – Employee’s autonomy in doing their jobs is one of empowerment’s dimensions. Autonomy is commonly described as a sense of self-determination. Empowerment means that workers are not restricted in what they do but have boundaries that are appropriate (Dew 1997).


4. Responsibility – Empowerment requires employee accountability, but is a general responsibility, rather than supervisory oversight of job tasks. This dimension has been described as allowing employees to track their own performances and having equal responsibilities for organizational results or success.


            Indeed, employee empowerment has changed the decision-making process in organizations as employees are given more opportunities to take part in the said process.


 


Conclusion


            The research that links values and organizational factors with HR managerial decision-making is still limited. Based on the resources that I have gathered so far, values and organizational factors, particularly culture have influence on managerial decision-making. However, I have found little literature on the impact of values and organizational factors on managerial decision-making regarding human resources issues. The information that I gathered, however, point to the changes in the human resources management arena, implying that the changes in employee management has led to HR policies and practices that encourage individual values.


 


 


 


References


 


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Beach L R and Mitchell, T R 1990, Image Theory: A Behavioral Theory of Decisions in Organizations, in B M Staw and L L Cummings (eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior (pp, 1-41), JAI Press, Greenwich.


 


Block, P 1987, The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.


 


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