Introduction
Business organizations operate in highly competitive and dynamic environments. As a result, trends obligate managers to occasionally alter their strategies and change their approaches to meet market demands or achieve goals. Gallium faces several issues due to the global financial crisis and the implications of Covid-19. Particularly, the organization is experiencing exasperated matters because of its traditional approaches to people management in a fast-paced business landscape. Additionally, its human resource management (HRM) system is outdated and does not deliver to the required standards. Moreover, its staffing techniques are not aligned with the organization’s goals as it drives up prices and inconveniences its investors. In addition, some employees are dissatisfied with the techniques officials use to carry out activities as it encourages non-inclusion. Thus, the institution’s managers should empower employees by offering training, creating a more conducive working environment, and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of their HRM management system to assign roles and higher participation levels equally.
Company Background and Problem Statement
Gallium is a marketing events organization that has witnessed notable success since its inception. However, various factors interfered with the organization’s structure and processes, thus obligating significant changes such as laying off some employees and shifting toward a more digital approach to fulfilling their obligations. The organization suffered because of its managers’ adoption of traditional leadership techniques, which involves controlling subordinate employees and assigning all decision-making responsibilities to top positions (Plaskoff, 2017). The model assumes that experts are well-informed and should obligate obedience from others without question. As a result, it facilitates one-way communication and limits employee contributions, engagement, and motivation (Meyer & Xin, 2018). Subsequently, its approach results in higher rates of employee dissatisfaction and diminished enthusiasm for completing tasks. Moreover, it facilitates insecurity as employees fear losing their jobs and being replaced by tech-savvy recruits.
The case notes that the organization initially invested heavily in its core staff by providing reward packages, training and development, and building a positive reputation as a reliable employer. However, its challenges forced its management to drop these projects and focus on efficiency due to increased operating costs. Regardless, most long-serving staff lack basic digital skills and cannot deliver using the newly adopted hybrid system. Despite facing problems, the organization still outsources experts to provide digital support for customers who choose to attend events online. Thus, the organization’s human resource management system is ineffective and creates additional limitations. High levels of employee dissatisfaction and disorganized processes are destructive to organizations because they inhibit productivity and staff’s ability to appropriately deliver on tasks (Stewart and Brown, 2019). Hence, Gallium’s managers should consider these factors and promptly deal with them to limit their adverse implications.
Traditional and Modern People Management Techniques
Human resource managers adopt several strategies to ensure employees’ effective performance and enhance their input. However, most methods fall under traditional or modern organizational leadership approaches. Traditional people management, also known as autocratic, authoritative, or hard leadership technique, is a model that imposes decision-making powers on a leader and limits input from staff members and subordinates (Zavyalova et al., 2020). Traditional management techniques are associated with tyrants and dictators because they prefer ordering individuals and expecting adherence. Nevertheless, autocratic leadership in organizations is preferable when a leader has unmatched expertise in a particular field and is trusted to deliver the best results (Dyczkowska and Dyczkowski, 2018). It is effective in instances that require fast decision-making as it does not depend on consensus. Nevertheless, the approach is detrimental to employee performance as it inhibits morale, engagement, job satisfaction, creativity, and innovation. Thus, the technique does not yield positive results in highly differentiated or diverse organizational cultures.
Modern organizational management techniques or democratic leadership take a different approach from the autocratic form as it believes in employee empowerment and autonomy above all other factors. These approaches to people management prioritize staff motivation and engagement, flexible work arrangements, clear communication, inclusion, and transparency (Merkle, 2022). In addition, modern practices encourage using information from data and analytics to inform decision-making, providing employees with opportunities for continuous development, clear communication channels, and adopting lean methodologies in problem-solving. As a result, HRM officials are responsible for streamlining associated initiatives and ensuring that all initiatives run smoothly (Snongtaweeporn et al., 2020). Contrary to traditional methods, modern solutions to people management promise more benefits than setbacks. Thus, maximizing its advantages can assist managers in improving their staff’s performance, addressing issues before they escalate, and achieving organizational goals.
Apart from its traditional people management practices, Gallium has a disorganized HRM strategy because it does not utilize its current labor supply to its optimum. The organization has staff members that have served it for extended periods. However, unlike the recently recruited tech-savvy employees, these partners are unfamiliar with operating digital systems and delivering services online. Additionally, the available staff members are not knowledgeable in some areas, thus obligating managers to outsource experienced individuals at a cost. Similarly, a shortage of employees with digital skills facilitates non-inclusion as managers compete within themselves to assign tasks and often struggle to meet objectives. Thus, the organization can sort out its HRM issues by altering its management approach, as this will encourage gradual changes and ultimately improve the organization’s culture.
Outsourcing expertise is recommended when trying to achieve specific goals and objectives. The practice refers to hiring third-party contractors or companies to execute tasks that employees would otherwise complete (Nankervis et al., 2019). The main aim of resourcing professionals is to assist employees in delivering complex tasks such as manufacturing, customer service, and information technology. However, the technique is not always feasible when it limits organizational development and staff advancement (Alagah, 2021). For example, outsourcing staff to implement initiatives at Gallium is destructive to the organization’s development because it facilitates overreliance on external parties and obligates the organization to spend continuously utilizing funds without seeking a permanent solution. Organizations should outsource expertise when planning for projects, and implementing new systems, in times of financial crisis (Greer, 2021). Moreover, managers should outsource professionals to aid in employee development and training. Such initiatives can promise positive advancements and a return on investments used to reimburse the experts.
Employee involvement and engagement is a reliable solution to dealing with the issues Gallium is experiencing because its employees play a significant role in the organization’s success and sustainability. The institution’s management should alter its leadership to encourage higher staff participation in decision-making initiatives (Riyanto et al., 2021). However, managers will only achieve the intended outcomes by creating solutions to empower and improve their employees’ skills and digital literacy, as this is the root cause of the problem. Training and development programs are essential in Gallium’s case because they will allow managers to fill gaps in the skills required to run the company’s operations successfully. Additionally, these activities will help improve the organization’s culture because they inform staff of the value of their contributions to the organization (Tortorella et al., 2021). Thus, the organization should establish a comprehensive training plan using research evidence to guide the program. Completing the program’s associated tasks will enable the organization to deal with its staffing issues and enhance inclusion to facilitate accountability.
Leveraging Technological Solutions in HRM
Technological solutions such as information systems and databases can assist human resource managers in achieving various initiatives. In Gallium’s case, the organization can adopt technology to deliver training and enhance its employees’ digital skills. Additionally, its managers can use technology in hiring and recruitment by automating tasks such as job listings, screening applications, and scheduling interviews to reduce staff’s workload (Stone et al., 2020). Moreover, technological solutions enable managers to evaluate and manage their staff’s performance by providing stakeholders with tools to set goals, track progress, and provide timely feedback (Armstrong, 2021). Technological solutions also enhance employee engagement by encouraging communication and collaboration using online systems (Collings et al., 2018). In addition, leaders can use various applications to oversee learning and development and data analysis and reporting. In turn, managers will experience higher levels of efficiency when dealing with staff issues (Armstrong, 2021). Therefore, taking advantage of technological solutions can allow managers to deal with problems more efficiently and effectively.
Conclusion
People managers are exposed to complex organizational issues because of unavoidable developments that interfere with their business. Although managers at Gallium suffer from several setbacks, the most notable limitation being the lack of finance, the organization’s HRM initiatives have several gaps preventing them from working toward improvements. The organization relies on traditional leadership approaches that are ineffective in the modern world due to increased diversity. Additionally, the company does not have an effective HRM system as they lack critical expertise to fulfill consumer needs. Instead of relying on the available pool of expertise and outsourcing professionals, the organization should empower its staff members and scale them to greater heights. It is advisable to adopt democratic leadership techniques to encourage inclusion and participation. Moreover, investing in employee training and development is better than outsourcing experts from other organizations because this assures continuous development. Thus, managers at Gallium should consider enhancing their employees’ abilities as this will save them revenue and ensure their sustainability.
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