Theory of Perpetual Excellence: Towards Sustainable & Enduring Human Resource Management (HRM).
| Author | Chris, Obisi |
Introduction
There is essentially nothing wrong with the notion of proposing a fresh concept about how effectively an organization's human resource should be managed or developing an entirely new human resource theory to complement the existing ones. There is no justification for pleading for the scrapping of the existing theories or condemning the way they are applied. What is wrong with the changing characteristics of the workforce is the concept of "one cap fits all" that has justified this kind of criticism, meaning that the models provided by these theories are not adequate to solve the complex and complicated problems raised by the emerging trends in modern human resource management. This, then, makes it obvious that human resource management problems cannot be solved by attacking the symptoms such as strikes, protests, lockouts, higher wage demands, and low productivity.
More so, there could not have been more vivid proof to say that the prior human resource management theories are no longer working at their full capacities than the fact of the gradual narrowing of their roles due to the decreasing climate of confidence between employers and employees and the state in the wider circumference. Confronted by this knowledge, deserving of academic curiosity, and deteriorating human resource management practices, we can hardly afford to ignore this complex problem.
The reasons, on reflection, are apparent. Employees' performance can promote or impede organizational growth (Mekuri-Ndimele, 2022; Mireetis et al., 2022; Olanipekun & innovate, to manufacture and develop products corresponding to the needs of the Olanipekun, 2022). This perception of employees' importance prioritizes the need for their proper management (Kim et al., 2022). To manage, to assure technological progress and productivity, to masses, to create maximum employment opportunities, to reward workers and investors, and to improve the work conditions and standard of life of wage earners are also vital fundamental goals which enterprises need to take up (Stiglitz, 2015; Appelbaum et al., 2000; Giscard d'Estaing, 1976)
How an organization enables or hinders this process depends largely on the quality of its workforce. The question of what an organization should require transforming its human resource element to meet the challenges in the market has been the subject of prolonged debates in organizational board rooms, national and global discourses. Such is also the dilemma confronting academics, both individually and as a group. Based on this premise, it would be pertinent to ask some questions. If it thus occurs, it should be admitted that a difference exists in terms of employee performance between the periods when the prior human resource management theories (Vroom, 1964) were first introduced and used and now form part of the human resource management coverage at that time, which has emerged mid-way to diminish the operationalization of the early human resource management models. By this logic, if we should develop a new theory to take control of this downside, it must, for purposes of reality, center on means to solve the raging human capital transformation complexities.
Human capital represents the most useful resource among a catalogue of resources (Goldin, 2016). The benefit of human capital lies in its ability to coordinate all other production inputs. Drawing on this postulation, it becomes pertinent to assert that the interplay between successful business performance and human capital transformation lies in an effective human resource management model. This perception is explicable only with the introduction of the Perpetual Excellence Theory (PET). The basic decision guide in the application of this theory is that, in general, it views the organization as a total system with interdependent functions in which no single human resource element, such as motivation, commitment, responsibility, or training and development, among others, can offer a solution necessary to generate competitiveness indispensable for higher growth, irrespective of its level of contribution in the process. For this reason, an excellence and realistic theory sheltered from outmoded content such as PET, derives practicability from the possibility offered by combining these variables: motivation, commitment, responsibility, training and development, value proposition of human capital, fairness in pay, human resource transformation, performance, recognition, and employee welfare, among others, into a single item, the use of which would sensibly produce an effective result in employee performance. This is predicted by the fact that workers at different levels of satisfaction are not spurred only by one element but a combination of elements in proportion determined by the circumstances.
In this way, the mistakes of the previous human resource management theories must have been rectified. In general, most of the fallacy of prior human resource management theories is to be found in the simple fact that the economy of the present is different and highly volatile than that of the past. The revised HRM practices must not be complacent in enjoying PET to manage the complexities created by the partial absence of resource convergence. The most significant advantage of PET is its ability to integrate these elements into a single set of human resource management metrics to change unfavorable workforce characteristics. This is an important counter argument because HRM practices are diverse and are influenced by market variability; employees are observed to exhibit different characteristics at different times. Refrain
PET has come into existence as an exciting new human resource management theory designed specifically to provide human resource managers, governments, and humanity with greater insight into the philosophy, concepts, skills, and competencies for dealing with extreme HRM problems. PET is characterized not only by its contents but by the impacts it has on HRM practices: managing personnel that could never have been managed properly without a superior model; raising a level of thinking in agreement with current expectations in HRM practices; it is a practical model with the potential to motivate employees and humanity to higher levels of performance.
Review of Literature
There are a number of theories and models which shed light towards a better understanding of human resource management. The leadership theories led by Urwick (1947), Likert (1967), Drucker (1973), Jesus Christ (cited in Mark 9: 35-36), Fielders' contingency theory (1967), the managerial grid by Blakes and Mouton (1964), the pathgoal theory by House and Mitchell (1975), Theory X and Y by McGregor (1957), Theory Z by Ouchi (1981), and Barney (2004). For instance, Urwick (1947), underscoring the crucial role in ensuring human resource management effectiveness, writes that it is not what a leader says and writes that influences his subordinates but what he is, and they judge him by what he does and how he behaves.
Likert (1967) writes that when a worker knows that his superior is interested in his well-being, performance, and career, such a worker tends to be more productive. The position of Likert will go a long way to encourage supervisors, managers, and leaders to go the extra mile to take care of human resource. Even Jesus Christ once said in Mark 9:35-36 that whoever wants to be a leader among you must place himself last of all and be the servant of all. Fiedler's contingency theory (2006; 1967) has come as a result of a 15-year research program where he identified three critical situations which determine the most effective leadership effectiveness, such as leader-follower-relation, the power position of the leader and the nature of the task structure put in place in the organization. Consistent with Fielder (1967), the performance and productivity of human resource can be guaranteed if the above three situations are positive.
However, the managerial grid/model by Blakes and Mouton (1964) carried out a study of about 5,000 managers in many organizations, and the results of their study were on two dimensions: concern for people and concern for productivity. The framework, i.e., the grid composed of horizontal and vertical axes, the grid does not, however, show results produced; instead, it shows the dominating factors in management thinking in realizing output. House and Mitchell (1975), in their Path-Goal Theory, lay emphasis on the influence of leaders in helping their followers achieve their goals by clearing and guiding their paths towards such goals.
Motivational Theories of HRM
Some motivational theories of HRM are very incisive in explaining that, to get the best from HR, they should be motivated (Maslow, 1954; McGregor ,1957; 1966; Adams & Freedman, 1976; Gandhi & Gandhi,1997). They argue that man lives by bread alone as long as bread is not available. Once bread is available, it ceases to have any importance for the time being. For a man who is extremely and dangerously hungry, no other interest exists but food. He dreams food, he remembers food, and he thinks about food, he dreams only food, he perceives only food, and he wants only food. Freedom, love, communal feeling, respect, philosophy, sexual behavior may all be waved aside as fripperies, which are useless since they fail to fill the stomach. Such a man may fairly be said to live on bread alone. Unless the circumstances are unusual, his needs for love, for status, for recognition, for safety and security are inoperative when his stomach has been emptying for a while. But when he eats regularly and adequately, hunger ceases to be an important need.
According to Gandi and Gandhi (1997), even God cannot talk to a hungry man except in terms of bread. The hierarchy of needs theory by Maslow, as above, raises the importance of satisfying the needs of the worker to elicit superior performance and productivity. Also, Herzberg's...
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