Issues Faced by Human Resource Managers

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engineering processes so the complexity of the businesses can be reduced and a number of underlying functions can be taken care of. Thus, HR department will be responsible to hire right candidates who can adapt to company’s culture and also have expertise in their job field (Gilbert, 2011). It would help them to increase morale and job satisfaction among workers. This scenario has led to the increasing number of research studies that have been conducted to understand various human resource aspects that need to be focused in order to identify its role to improve the performance of engineers that can have a positive impact on the company’s operations (Vaiman & Collings, 2013).

1.3 Research Aim and Objectives

The research objective is to understand the vitality of human resource practices that play a significant role in the business environment. A number of questions relating to the various HR aspects relating to employee engagement, performance management and training of employees will be covered in this activity.(Gubbi, et al., 2013) and more specifically following research questions are discussed in this report .

• Which human resource practices can be used to improve employee engagement in a business concern?

• Does training management increases employees’ satisfaction and organisational performance?

2.0 Literature review

2.1 Human resource management in Engineering Organisations

The significance of an effective and proper human resource management has gained high importance in the modern business world. This changed business scene has encouraged a number of research teams to conduct research on this subject and identify the areas that can be improved by adopting an integrated system of human resource and engineering so that the business undertaking can have a competitive advantage in the market (Halbe, et al., 2013).

The strategic human resource management is the need of the time in the highly competitive industrial situation. The human resource management is making use of a number of sub-elements to achieve the business organizational objectives (Watson, 2013).

The firms that are totally engineering-based combine the practical application of management to the engineering practices and operations. It basically brings together the technological scenario involving various facets of management like the administrative and planning abilities which help to conduct an operational performance relating to complex engineering activities which forms the backbone of these engineering driven business enterprises (Jeston&Nelis, 2014).

2.2 People Capability Maturity Model (P-CMM)

The study that has been used in our research activity gives a holistic picture of the management issue relating to human resource aspects in case of an engineering organisation. This research study basically focuses on seven leading manufacturing and engineering business firms and tries to understand whether these business firms are acquainted with some human resource practices like people capability maturity model (P-CMM) or not (Zeundjua Tjiparuro, 2012).

In layman’s terms, people capability maturity model refers to a maturity framework that emphasis on the need to continuously improve the management and development aspects relating to the human factors that function within an organisation. It removes any kind of inconsistent approach or practice and tries to enhance the knowledge-set, skill-level and motivational aspects in a workforce. This model improves the overall strategic business performance of a concern (Kerzner, 2013).

As per Khalili, et al., (2015) the use of previous work involving research aspects, science and technology in Botswana have been used to understand the various organisational processes and practices concerned with the manufacturing and engineering firms. This specific study adopts a people-centric approach which is an integral function of innovation. Any firm which depends on an innovative pattern of operation needs to give significance to its people since they form a domineering element and determine the firm’s success or failure in its industry. Previously only three perspectives were mainly highlighted in research activities concerning the human resource subject namely human resource management, organisational development and human resource development.

The analysis of the human resource management aspects dealt with the development of intellectual capital, relevant knowledge-set, etc. The P-CMM that has been the focal point of the referred research article collates the most favourable and suitable practices and policies of human resource management, organisational development and human resource development in order to replace inconsistent approaches with more consistent and disciplined practice. Since the P-CMM model fuses the otherwise disjointed theories relating to human resource management it has been suggested in this article for maximum competitive advantages (Winch, 2014).

The research activity was pretty vast in nature and in order to understand its underlying concept research data was collected from a total of seven engineering and manufacturing organisations of different sizes. The results of the conducted research revealed that the awareness level relating to the people capability maturity model was almost nil among the experts that were interviewed however higher maturity level were noted (Zeundjua Tjiparuro, 2012).

In order to find answers to our specific research questions it is necessary to understand the below concepts.

2.2.1 Engagement of employees in Entities: -

Employee engagement defines emotional attachment of employees towards their job and organisation which has a direct impact on organisational efficiency (Wilmar Schaufeli, 2013). It has been suggested that employees who have successfully established an emotional connect in their work place are likely to put in extra effort and perform better in the business concern (Mellor, Hao& Zhang, 2014). An interactive and happy workforce is vital to adopt a solid strategy for customer retention, recruitment of appropriate personnel and ability to attract potential customers. The employee engagement and business productivity are inter-related and it is vital for business firms to adopt new effective human resource policies and models that can increase employee engagement (Noe, et al., 2014).

In the prevailing business situation a one-mode-approach cannot be used to improve the employee’s performance. It is essential to identify and integrate a number of effective HR practices

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