Managing Diversity Or Work Life Balance Is Important--美国Essay代写范文

美国留学生作业Essay代写范文:“Managing Diversity Or Work Life Balance Is Important”，这篇论文主要描述的是在现代的企业管理当中对于WLB（工作生活平衡）的管理已经逐渐成为一个热门的话题，也是目前企业人力资源管理中关注的重点问题，如何能在较短的时间内达到企业发展预期的目标，从而让员工能够有更多的时间来平衡工作与生活，这与劳动人口的综合素质有着直接密切的关系。

Recently, WLB (Work-life Balance) has been in demand for proper solutions on the employee's side. Consequently, WLB has become a very hot topic debated worldwide in boardrooms and government halls today. It is being focused as one of the most important issues that human resource professionals are paying attention managing it. The importance of managing WLB has been increasing over the past 2 decades (De Bruin & Dupuis, 2004). The several changes have occurred in some areas regarding to this issue. First of all, jobs are more complex and employees are receiving more pressure to achieve the expected performance within the shorter timeframe and fewer resources (Hosie, Forster & Servatos, 2004). Secondly, the demographic factors of the labour force have affected the changes of human resource management, such as gender, ethnicity, dual career couples, religion, and multi-generational workplaces. Finally, the nature of employment contract requires the organizations to manage their employee's welfare, job satisfaction, and stress more effectively (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006).

Regardless to the above statement, Purcell (2002) has mentioned that organizational interest towards WLB management has originated from evidence that there is an obvious linkage between firm performance and the way the firm manages people. This implies the opportunities of having good WLB management might be the future source of competitive advantage. However, it is not easy to initiate the good WLB management program as it needs to integrate employees' work effectively and minimise job dissatisfactions or any other conflicts (De Bruin et al, 2004). To achieve this, many western organizations have however adopted a unique set of policies, for instance, on-site nursery, resting quarter, and fitness centre. This provides employees opportunities to fully perform their assigned works, at the same time, manage their personal lives effectively.

The Current Issues 当前的问题

Knowing that WLB management is a crucial issue for every organization, there is a considerable argument on the effectiveness of WLB policies in bringing elasticity and eliminating job dissatisfaction in the modern workplace (Kirrane & Buckley, 2004). WLB literature, that has served its theoretical and practical usefulness, is then identified. Buzzanell et al, (2005) has further suggested that the WLB generally represents the conflicts in roles for married, professional, and managerial women. Meanwhile, other demographics are rarely referred by these conflicts.

Moreover, most organizations have inability to clearly explain the interaction of work and non-work roles that impact employees' working-life, stress and job satisfaction, for instance. Elloy and Smith (2004) has stated that because non-working roles of each employee are inherently unclear and complicated, organisations are then not capable to understand the proper way to react that impacts each individual. Spinks (2004) also added that organisations, however, could be unwilling to understand their employees and have instead created a 'one-size-fits-all' policy concerning that it simply enabled workforce to work longer rather than support their important non-work roles. Nevertheless, the insufficiency of current WLB policy has been emphasized by the study of Kiger (2005) which revealed that the participation rate in available WLB programs is actually less than 2%. This very low figure is explained by Dex and Smith (2002) that there are two major factors leading this low figure. The first is the equality feeling. As numerous employees reporting that they wish not to be a special case asking for special treatment. In addition to this, the paper of Water et al (2006) also supported that the workplace culture reduced the willingness of Australian university staff to access WLB policy options. The second is because the ineffective WLB as it has been originated from one size fit all policy. Thus, it could not deliver satisfaction to employees and could not be practical in reality. Consequently, organisations, that do not study more on WLB approach, are increasing issues in attraction and retention of employees. The research has found that generation X and Y have placed higher importance on WLB than previous generations. They could be attracted and retained longer in the firm that provides flexibility in accordance with individual needs. As similar to the paper of Beck et al (2005), it shows an increment of women managers who are willing to leave firm and become consultant as it provides them more control on WLB.

As a result, the WLB literature, otherwise, revealed the limitation of its ability to provide a useful framework for both in theoretical and practical scheme (Hyman et al, 2004). Despite its name, the WLB literature remains concerning on work-family edge and fails to correctly discover the range of work and non-roles which affect an individual's satisfaction. To conquer these issues, Elloy et al (2003) suggests that an effective conceptualization of the WLB requires a holistic approach to HR management, which involves a better awareness of the worker's daily activities rather than only concern on their working hour. Its design and implementation should adopt the following four criteria. First of all, it must aim mainly on the integration of all human resource activities with the firm's vision, goals and strategic planning. This would bring consistency between workforce's life context and organizational culture. Secondly, the implementation of policies must create a set of internal consistency of employment strategy providing flexibility, quality, and commitment as a milestone of the WLB's concept. Thirdly, the importance of human resources must be considered as well as the need to engage in practices. Both would reflect the understanding of the WLB concept. Thus, human resource approach is essential and is the fundamental to the connection between WLB objective and the success. Finally, the behavior of the line managers in employees' perspective should be taken into account as it affects the success of WLB's policies, such as recognition by employees that their superiors are committed to the achievement of a meaningful.

In conclusion, the point, which organization is capable to support the achievement and benefits associated with it, depends on two major concerns. The method that the WLB has been identified and formalized within human resource strategy and the way the managerial people react to workforce's requests for WLB requirement regarding to individual demand. For the formalization, firms should be worn of the degree to which WLB is being implemented, whether it has been regarded as a right, a right to request, or as a matter of management judgment. In terms of managerial responses, the organization is required to make a decision either to implement a hard human resource strategy or a commitment approach towards the request for the needed WLB policies. It is the connection between company's culture in rituals and practices are modeled by organizational leaders that set the tendency for employees' responses to WLB policies. The accomplishment of a useful WLB policies concept has fundamentally failed in Australia with the given issues discussed above.

The link between organizational performance and diversity or work-life balance 组织绩效与多样性或工作生活平衡之间的联系

How diversity or work-life balance is linked with other Human Resource Management concepts such as training and development, performance management and/or recruitment

As the effectiveness of WLB management requires the comprehensive recognition from organization regarding the non-work roles which impact employee's working-lives, regardless whatever has been implemented in WLB in recent years, there is still insufficient learning model that could bring real practical and effective WLB policies to the organization in terms of definition and practice. With the aim to explore the contemporary WLB's boundaries, the organizational role theory perspective has been picked up to the adoption. It is suggested that the effective management of this isolated impact could be done by having human resource managers audit WLB impact and consider it as part of job evaluation process.

Interestingly, to state these WLB issues, there are two strategic options involving in key human resource policies, especially, in the job analysis, job design, and performance management process. Primarily, the implementation of a WLB impact audit system must be taken as part of job analysis function. Traditionally, the job analysis function serves to describe each position within an organisation in terms of its assignments, responsibilities, and chain of command. The requirement to complete the WLB concept is a concentration on the size of job, job's intensity, and the degree that the work impacts on each individual life via interfering communication system, mobile phones and e-mail technology, for instance. Despite the fact that the focus on technical characteristics has served as a basis for defining a position aspect, it has been less successful in supporting a realistic job analysis regarding to the job's effect as commended in existing human resource literature (Buda et al, 2003). Thus, to make the better job analysis, the audition of WLB impact must attempt to outline in what way each job's position influences each employee's life and provide constructive basis for understanding of the position's requirements. Precisely, the audit focuses on both present positions and new positions yet to be filled. Particularly, it is recommended that human resource managers implement a proactive attitude in managing their current and prospective workforce's expectations. Thus, they could eventually approach their roles in making effective WLB management.

Besides, the second strategic option is to assimilate the results of the WLB impact's audit into the continuing job evaluation function. This would place primary responsibility for the effective implementation of WLB (at the individual employee level) in the hands of their line manager. Line managers would then be better able to discuss the impact of performing the duties on WLB and visa-versa directly with each employee. For this to be given appropriate prominence, the key performance indicator for managers would be their approach and effectiveness in supporting the employee's WLB. A key focus is for organisations to take a strategic approach to removing the barriers and perceived disincentives for employees to take up WLB options (Waters & Bardoel, 2006). At the operational level, communication within workgroups and individual manager's attitudes are matters for attention.

The potential benefit of the Impact Audit is that by leveraging the positional expectations in the Position Description the organisation is able to increase the likelihood that the role-taking and role-consensus assumptions are being met, in turn reducing the likelihood of role-conflict. The implications of a Work-Life Balance Impact Audit are potentially four-fold. Firstly, it offers the organisation an opportunity to improve their recruitment value proposition by having a program in place to avoid the dysfunctional consequences of role-conflict. Secondly, it allows the organisation to realise time and cost savings by allowing potential candidates to self-select out of the recruitment process should they be unwilling to adopt the work-roles required of a vacant position. Thirdly, it provides a structured mechanism through its use in the performance management process for the monitoring of the level of effectiveness of WLB implementation for individual employees. Fourthly, the implementation of such an audit requires checking the strategic congruence between WLB and corporate strategy, the impact of enacted culture on the implementation of a range of HR policy areas and obtaining feedback from employees (and prospective employees) on the structure and content of WLB and related polices. It raises the possibility of increased flexibility of HR policies to cater for greater diversity (more individual) in employee expectations of workplace flexibility that is more properly described as life and work rather than the current predominant focus on "family friendly".

During the 1960s and 1970s, employers considered work-life mainly an issue for working mothers who struggled with the demands of their jobs and raising children. Throughout this period and into the mid-1980s, the U. S. government had the major impact in the field, as reflected by the Presidential Conference on Families, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and the Quality of Employment Survey.

During the 1980s, recognizing the value and needs of their women contributors, pioneering organizations such as Merck, Deloitte & Touche, and IBM began to change their internal workplace policies, procedures, and benefits. The changes included maternity leave, employee assistance programs (EAPs), flextime, home-based work, and child-care referral. During the 1980s men also began voicing work-life concerns. By the end of the decade, work-life balance was seen as more than just a women's issue, affecting men, families, organizations and cultures.

The 1990s solidified the recognition of work-life balance as a vital issue for everyone--women, men, parents and non-parents, singles, and couples. This growing awareness of the central importance of the issue resulted in major growth in attempted work-life solutions during this decade. Numerous studies showed that the generations from baby boomers to new college graduates were making job choices based on their own work-life issues and employers' cultures.

Unfortunately, although companies were adopting family-friendly policies, employees and managers were not implementing them. Many of the policies put into place in the 1980s failed to have a significant impact on most managers' and employees' real-world work-life-balance results. Americans still reported feeling even more overworked and out of touch with their non-work lives much of the time.

During the first years of the twenty-first century, the disappointing results made human resource and work-life professionals as well as executives at all levels take stock. Karol Rose, author of the soon to be published book Work Life Strategies, comments on these trends in Fortune Magazine's third annual work-life special feature included in the October 2005 issue. She noted that the Work-Life Leadership Council of the Conference Board, a gathering of high-level corporate HR and work-life professionals, drew these conclusions on looking back over the last decade of efforts. Among their concerns were:Work-life business cases have not achieved their intended effect.

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