RESEARCH PROPOSAL - STRATEGIC HUMAN

CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: EMPLOYEE RELATIONS A STEP TOWARD OVERCOMING THE HUMAN

CAPITAL CRISIS
STRATEGIC HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: EMPLOYEE RELATIONS A STEP TOWARD OVERCOMING THE HUMAN CAPITAL CRISIS
INTRODUCTION
While every organization seems to invest in technology, there are other aspects that
should be considered in attaining a holistic performance of their respective
organization. One aspect that needs as much, if not more attention
and investment than technology is human capital management. An organizations
human capital management philosophy should value its human capital as a key
asset in defining the organizations character and performance capacity (ChampionHughes, 2001). In fact, human capital is a critical factor that would either lead the
organization to success or to failure, as stated by Abramson, Demensen & Gardner
(2002). The United States Congress has identified human capital management as a
national crisis. Therefore, the focus of the Federal government and other sectors is
on their respective human capital management system. Now that the value of the
workforce has been realized, human capital management is believed to be the
critical link in a modern performance management program, which promotes
a healthy employee relations program. As stated by Walker (2000; 1994), In a
modern performance management program, the concern is on the achievement of
the desired results or outcomes, measured by their impact and not by their quantity
In todays job market, private and public sectors are both engaged in war for talents
as their concern is on the recruitment, development and retention of talented and
bright employees, as stated by Abramson, Demensen and Gardner (2002).
Therefore, it is important to have the right individuals to make up an organizations
workforce at the right time and right place. To be able to do that, the organization
must be able to recruit and retain competent individuals to match the constant
changing job skills. For todays organizations, recruiting competent employees is not
an easy task. Although competitive salaries may be helpful in recruiting individuals,
they are no longer the only deciding factors applicants consider to decide to apply or
work for a particular organization. New job seekers are interested in the benefits of
the job that allows them to explore and exploit their life styles. In the past, workers
adjusted their lifestyles to the job. Today and in the future, job seekers will look for
jobs that will adjust to their life styles. This concept forces management
to change its paradigm toward funding and implementing employee relation
programs and benefits. Organizations that continue to try and sell themselves to
jobseekers the way they usually market themselves to their customers will be
embarking upon a self-defeating mission.

Organizations must realize that in order for them to recruit, and retain skill
employees for future missions, they need to unleash their human resource employee
relations imagination and innovation to create capability and flexibility to
institutionalize a responsive system that will expedite the handling of disputes and
grievances. Therefore, it is imperative that human resource departments adopt a
modern day progressive employee relations paradigm that embraces and enhances
the recruitment, development, and retention of employees in concert with human
capital strategic management planning initiatives.
The types and numbers of benefits to employees vary in many ways. In the United
States, employees receive benefits such as, paid leave, health care, insurance,
retirement benefits, and the like (Burke & Morton, 1993). However, in as much as
organizations want to provide their employees different and necessary benefits, they
just cannot fully provide them with all the benefits. The problem may be attributed to
the lack of or the limited financial resources of organizations to fund such benefits,
because of the impact on the organizations financial plan. Again, this is a strategic
management decision that must be addressed in all organizations that have strategic
plans in support of future growth and development.
Hypothesis
The critical crisis of Human Capital Management in todays American
workforce will positively impact future employee relation programs on behalf of
employees and negatively impact the strategic financial plans of organizations.
Statement of the Problem
An Employee Relations program is a critical component for any organization to
support, however, organizations will have to face the continuous problem of deciding
the degree and level of funding as a benefit in relationship to the return on
investment to the organization.

Objectives
1.

Show that management must support an effective Employee

Relations Program for an organization to survive the human capital
management crisis.

2.

Show that a fully funded progressive employee relations program

will positively support an organizations strategic mission and goals.

3.

Show that the future of any organization must allow its employee
relations program more flexibility and must increase its capability.

Suggest alternative funding sources that organizations may use to

support their employee relations programs, without severely
impacting the organizations bottom line.

4.

Research Questions:
The following questions have been derived from some of the tables in
Hannas (2003) article.
Questions for the employers:
1.

Basic insurance benefits

Are there insurance benefits like:

1.1.1

Term life benefits?

1.1.2

Hospital and surgical benefits?

1.1.3

Major medical benefits?

How are they paid?

Fully employers?
Partly employers?
2.

Any other basic insurance benefits?

Long- term disability?

Travel accident?
Dental?
3.

Are there any flexible benefits?

Are there any supplemental life benefits?

Permanent?
Universal life?
Term?
Dependent life-spouse?
Children and grandchildren?
Individual Retirement Account (IRA)?

Personal account?
4.

Does direct pay include:

Wages?
Salaries?
Bonus and/or Commissions?
Premiums?
Incentives?
Overtime?
Shift differentials?
Holiday, call in?
5.

Are there employee services like:

Employee meals?
Social-recreational programs?
Legal services?
Christmas bonus?
Employee suggestion program?
Membership professional trade associations?
Counseling?
T ravel clubs?
Credit unions?
Counseling?
Discount purchases?
Credit cards?
Income tax services?
Pre-retirement support?
Pre-retirement planning?
Relocation expenses?

Food services?
Work- study programs?
Scholarships for dependent children?
Matched donations-universities & colleges?
6.

Are there other benefits like:

Alternative Work Schedules?

Company automobile?
Extra vacation?
Shared Company Vacation villas?
Special parking privileges?
Personal expense accounts?
Spouse traveling on company business?
Loans?
Mortgage Assistance?
6.10. Club memberships?
6.11. Airplane accommodations?
6.12. Chauffeur?
6.13. Estate planning?
6.14. Financial counseling?
6.15. Expense reimbursement?
6.16. Home entertainment allowance?
6.17. Physical examinations?
6.18. Executive dining room?
6.19 Sabbaticals (with pay)?
6.20. Objective performance management system?
6.21.

Aggressive Alternative Dispute Resolution Process?

6.22.

Aggressive modern day orientation and training?

7.

6.23.

Aggressive information technology policy?

6.24.

Aggressive family leave and work policy?

6.25.

Aggressive flexible personnel management polices and

procedures.

6.26.

Objective, fair, and standard disciplinary action process.

6.27.

Aggressive work place safety and security program.

Other benefits/services not mentioned?

The following questions have been derived from the article The Chained
Gang: Human Capital Management (Abramson, Demesme, & Gardner, 2002) as
they have been found relevant and useful in this study.
Questions for the organization regarding the employees:
1.

How successful are your recruiting efforts?

2.

Do your workers present skills that match your future requirements?

3.

Are your employees being developed for todays-and-tomorrowsmission?

4.

Are your employees agile and mobile?

5.

Do you have a succession-planning program in place?

6.

How well prepared are you for pending retirements in your

organization?

7.

Are you fully using the flexible recruiting and retention tools
currently available?

8.

Do you have a human resource strategic plan in place?

9.

Do you have an adequate training budget?

10.

Do you offer employee education advancement options?

11.

Do you have an aggressive formal employee relations and

recognition program?

Questions for the organization regarding the working environment:

1.

Do workers have adequate office space, use of computers, and a

safe working place?

2.

Are enterprise portal systems available to employees?

3.

Is there a strategic plan that addresses separate program planning

for Equal Employment Opportunity & diversity programs?

4.

Is there a partnership council with scheduled meetings (at least

quarterly) with unions?

5.

Do you provide transportation subsidies?

6.

Do you offer child-care services on the premises or provide

subsidies?

7.

Do you have separate Equal Employment opportunity and diversity

programs?

8.

Are meals, or access to kitchens readily available?

Methodology
The descriptive research method uses observation and surveys. In this method, it is
possible that the study would be cheap and quick. It could also suggest
unanticipated hypotheses. Nonetheless, it would be very hard to rule out alternative
explanations and especially infer causations. Thus, this study will use the descriptive
approach. This descriptive type of research will utilize observations in the study. To
illustrate the descriptive type of research, Creswell (1994) will guide the researcher
when he stated: Descriptive method of research is to gather information about the
present existing condition. The purpose of employing this method is to describe the
nature of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the cause/s of
particular phenomena. The researcher opted to use this kind of research considering
the desire of the researcher to obtain first hand data from the respondents so as to
formulate rational and sound conclusions and recommendations for the study.
The research described in this document is based fundamentally
on qualitative and quantitative research methods. This permits a flexible and iterative
approach. During data gathering the choice and design of methods are constantly
modified, based on ongoing analysis. This allows investigation of important new
issues and questions as they arise, and allows the investigators to drop unproductive
areas of research from the original research plan.
The primary source of data will come from a questionnaire and interviews conducted
by the researcher.
The secondary sources of data will come from published articles from social
science journals, theses and related studies on Human Capital Management.
When all the survey questionnaire will have been collected, the researcher will
use statistics to analyse all the data.
The statistical formulae to be used in the survey questionnaire will be the following:
1.
n

Percentage to determine the magnitude of the responses to the

questionnaire.

% = -------- x 100

n number of responses

2.

N total number of respondents

Weighted Mean

f1x1 + f2x2 + f3x3 + f4x4 + f5x5

x = --------------------------------------------- ;
xt
where:

f weight given to each response

x number of responses
xt total number of responses

The researcher will be assisted by the SPSS in coming up with the statistical
analysis for this study.

References
Abramson, M. A., Demense, R. B. & Gardner, N. W. (2002) The chained gang:
Human capital management. The Journal of Public
Inquiry,Spring/Summer, 43-48.

Burke, T. P. and Morton, J. D. (1990). How firm size and industry affect employee
benefits. Monthly Labor Review, 113(12), 35+.

Champion-Hughes R. (2001). Totally integrated employee benefits. Personnel

Management, 30(3), 287.

Creswell, J.W. (1994) Research design. Qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

Hanna, J. B. (2003) Managing Employee Benefits. Arkansas Small Business

Development Center. Available at [asbdc.ualr.edu/bizfacts]. Accessed
[12/08/03].

Walker, D. M. (2000). Strategic human capital management: the critical link. The
Public Manager, 29, 5.

Walker, J. W. (1994). Integrating the human resource function with the

business. Human Resource Planning, 17(2) 59+.