HR department is the only department expected to take employees very seriously.

In order to run and manage the business smoothly, the management should allocate all the components of the business in their rightful places. The links of departments and sections under the departments are crucial for the flow of information, work, and authority. Any misplaced section of work can create unnecessary bottlenecks which can prevent an organization to achieve organizational objectives. The departments and sections which are associated with important asset such human capital, should be placed in such that they able to quickly service such assets should need arises. The reward for labour employed is very crucial; all employees expect the compensation of work they have done in time with no discrepancies.

Employee performance is measured against employee’s employment contract, key performance area targets, and strategic performance objectives.  An employee is recruited through Human Resources.  The selection of an employee is always based on how a new recruit will able to fit in the job requirements and organizational performance.  Human Resources is the department which keeps all files about agreement made between new recruit and an organization with regard to expected level of performance required.  It is in this department of Human Resources where the employees are expecting to observe the agreement files should they feel short-changed in whatever way. Employees will not go to other departments when they want to observe their personal files.

The organizations should start giving employees all respect they deserve when they come to HR offices complaining about employment issues. HR department is the only department who promised them ‘things’ they are now complaining about. They were introduced to an organization by HR department. They can’t go to other departments but HR department.  

Importance of communicating an organizational policy

A policy is the guideline to what is expected to happen in an organization. It links employees to organizational best practice, corporate culture, country’s laws with regard to what a policy covers, and procedure to implement a policy.

The emphasis is on implementation of the policy. The policy designed and approved in the boardrooms is not enough if it is not implemented properly. It is easy for an employee to breach the regulations of a policy if he/she is not aware of. In many disciplinary hearings of many organizations tendency is to remember a policy when an employee has gone astray with regard to policy. When an employee or employee representative refutes the present of a policy, a desperate organizational official takes out a policy from the ‘archive cabinet’. In these situations, even draft policies are used in order to discipline an employee.

The policy has one and only one purpose of informing the employees to support an organizational Purpose. It is not intended to punish employees. In this view, the policy should be properly implemented. An approved policy is not the implementation of a policy. The approval of the policy starts the implementation of policy.

A policy should have the following:

Policy Name	It must cover the Purpose It must be short and concise E.g: “Policy on Company Vehicle usage”
Purpose	State the reason of establishing a Policy. Why the Policy is necessary to provide guideline How the organization will benefit
Area it covers	State  what it intends to cover: e.g Junior Staff only or Senior only or All Staff “The Policy shall cover…..” Explain in details
Policy leaders	E.g. Finance Policy: The CFO is ultimate leader or delegated person who should approve or both CFO and CEO. Policy writer could Cost Accounting or Financial Accounting (Using Finance Policy as an example)
Date of Approval	The Policy should have a date of approval by Senior management: HR Policy is GM HR; Finance Policy is CFO, etc. These HOD’s have delegated authority from CEO for their respective departments.
Date of Implementation	When Policy has been approved, workshops and training are needed for All employees and the people who are expected to manage it. Implementation date is important for Labour issues. Approval date indicates that a Policy is legal; implementation date indicates that the Policy was communicated after it was approved.
Review periods	The Policy should have duration. It must be reviewed for its relevance to its intention Duration could One year to Five years. Three year duration is most accepted since it is not too short or too long.
Provision of a Policy	It must not be ambiguous (Interpretation should support the purpose)  The “shall” factor is important for emphasis E.G. 1. All employees shall have drivers license before they use company vehicle. 2. All employees shall first check the company vehicle before they use it. 3. Dents and New dents, etc shall be reported on Check List form and singed by supervisor or manager before the vehicle is used.
Space for signatures	At the end, provide lines for signatures.

Indigenous Traditions in contact with the foreign organizational policies

 Organizational policies are crafted on modern cultures and legislation which are sometimes in contrary with indigenous traditions and cultures. The conflict is very observable in Africa and other continents where certain section of society still observes traditions. For example, the company policies require that an employee should produce doctor’s letter if an employee is absent for 3 or more days. In Africa, many employees believe that certain ailments require tradition medicine to be cured. Just like doctors, the traditional healers may keep a patient for number of days in their ‘practice’. The days may exceed the number of days provided by company policies. If this happens, an employee breaches the code of conduct.

 When designing company policies, the company should take into cognisant the type of people it is operating in. Included in the cognisance should not be the customers it wants to profit from, but the employees as well who come from that society the company is operating in. The corporate image could be dented when customers realise that the company is against their traditions and cultures.

A company should make a thorough assessment of cultural and traditional dynamics before it designs policies and procedures. However, if the traditions will or works against company wellbeing and legislation, then that could be explained to the employees. Surely, the explanation is better than perception that ‘my’ culture is inferior or ‘I’ am not part of the organization. 

Turning rural economy into vibrant economy

 ·       What causes unemployment in the rural areas?

·       Does current governemt investment in line with needs on the rural communities?

·       Is land still crucial for the development of rural communities when considering the type of basic eduaction provided by the rural school?

Intorduction

The rural unemployment occurs on two fronts. Firstly, there is unemployable skill where certain graduates can not find employment suitable for the skills they have. The graduates are willing to employ their skills but the rural economic environment prevents the employment.

Secondly, unemployed skill occurs when rural economic environment allows the employment of skill but people who have skill decide not to employ. The main reason of not employing a skill in the rural areas, is based on comparison of returns obtainable in the face of risks of employing a skill. The people who decide not to employ a skill percieved risks being higher than returns. The greatest risk in the rural areas is inability of rural customers to buy at high mark-up prices which cover costs to do business, due to unemployment.

Unemployable

·       Environment completely prevents employment of skill

·       There is willingness on the side of a skill holder to employ a skill.

·       No infrastructure.

The people from this category are quick to move to urban areas to seek environment which will allow them to employ their skills.  Most graduates leave rural areas to stay in towns and cities.

 Unemployed

·       Environment allows the employment of skill.

·       There is no willingness on the side of a skill holder to employ a skill.

·       The returns on employing a skill are lower than risk.

 The people in this category remain in the rural areas waiting for the change in buying power of the rural customers. They invest in smaller scale in such that they don’t incur big losses. The rural shopkeepers are the example of people who remain in rural areas even if they are not making big profits. ….. cont…….

View point

 This section in the book ‘Turning rural economy into vibrant economy’ can also be applied to workplace situations.

 A skill in the hands of an employee needs environment that allows its implementation. It is with this reason a person who has a skill in a particular department is not employed in other department where he has no skill for. The department in which a person has a skill is an environment that allows his/her skill. The argument is opposite for the department in which he/she has no skill. Unemployable skills happens when an accountant is placed in Human Resources department to perform duties such Disciplinary Hearings, Employee issues, etc. These duties fall outside the area of his expertise. A Chartered Accountant could have unemployed skills if he/she is placed in a position Financial Clerk in an organization. 

 The organizations need to check whether there are no unemployable skills and unemployed skills in their organizations. The qualification audits should be conducted regularly to check what skills current employees are possing or pursuing. 

Communiction for Business Minds and Politicians

Convergence

The diminishing resources among the communities are the reason for members leaving their communities in search of better lives elsewhere. The members left their communities and converge in big cities and towns where there are resources and work. They come with different inculcated cultures in the work environment. The belief system in one culture may be a disbelief system to the other. When unmanaged, the clash of cultures may spell the end of an organization.  

The biggest challenge in the work place is to train and educate employees to tolerate other cultures. It is not always easy to get a tolerance, since each and every member believes that his or her culture is important. Moreover some of the elements of other cultures fall within a description of bad cultures. When these members consult with communication leaders about new teachings they are receiving regarding culture tolerance, they likely to get opposite answers....... (cont.) 

The corporate culture

Employees are trained to live corporate culture while they are at work environment. However, good aspects of individual cultures are not discouraged only when they not aversely affecting both corporate culture and other cultures within the working environment. The corporate culture has the following properties:

·       Corporate values

·       Corporate belief system

·       Corporate norms

·       Corporate rituals, identity, and symbols

 The corporate culture is carried on the language permissible in the work environment. By language means the choice of words that uphold all the properties of a corporate culture..... (cont.)

Sender's strategies 

.......however, the sender of the message is sometimes mindful of the
fact that the receiver of message may respond outside his/her
guidelines preset. The failure to preempt a negative feedback as
one of possible feedbacks could result in disappointment on the
part of a sender......... (cont.) 

A manager is a mentor and coach

The most prominent factor that cause the stress to the Human Capital and human being in general, is the to dwell on the past bad experience. An inability to solve a certain intricate task may haunt an employee and wield strain which further reduces performance. An employee is expected to perform within a given deadline and still unable to complete a first task of the series of tasks needed to be done, may start to undergo stress levels. In most cases, employee fails to inform a manager in time about inability to perform. The main reasons are: (1) he/she wants to prove to a manager that he/she is worthy doing it, (2) his/her appointment to a position was a good decision, (3) he/she wants to earn trust.

However, a manager does not want a proof that employee was a good choice to take a position. A manager wants outcome which will assist a business to achieve its strategic objectives. A manager is prepared to assist an employee to learn and grow.  Coaching and mentoring an employee is the principal function of a good manager. If an employee repudiate this salient request by a manager to coach and mentor him/her, he/she deprives a manager for his/her duty. What else a manager should do when a subordinate refuses manager's assistance.

Dress Code and corporate image

Employee appearance has assume lesser importance because of decreasing face-to-face contact with clients. The advent of technology has brought about internet, e-mail, social network communication with the client. The deals can now be concluded on the click of a button. However, there are still remaining organizations which survive through face-to-face contact communication. Just to mention the few, such as  banks, sales businesses, and other, require appropriate appearance to clients. Now the question that needs to be answered is: what was the purpose of appropriate dress code in the first place? The obvious answer is: to appear presentable in front of the client. A deeper analysis of the answer one could decern the following: (1) corporate image enhancement, (2) trustworthness of company representative, and (3) willingness to win a profitable deal and sustain it.

An organizational representative is constrained by the level of a client to wear in a certain way in order to enhance the image of what he/she represents. An image enhancement may either for real corporate image or image of what a business should be all about. The real corporate image is a status of an organization created by past and present high opinion and its corporate structure and buildings. An enhancement of image may also resulted on trying to portray what a client expects in order to conclude a deal. A dress code is not only revealing what an organization could do with regard to the client expectation, it also says a lot about a representative as well. A client may trust or distrust a whole organization because of a represenative he/she is dealing with. A representative may change a way he/she dresses because he/she wants to win a deal and make profit. If there is no profit involved, it is highly possible for a representative not to drastically change the way he/she dresses.