Positive Thoughts For The Day

Introduction

Qatar Museum Authority is a nonprofit organization set up by the government with the aim of improving archeology and museums within the state of Qatar. It is a newly formed corporate body with only three years in service so far; it was set up in 2005. This institution operates under its own government budget and works towards upgrading the latter mentioned sectors. This company is responsible for the process of supervision and managing archeological projects or museum sites. Additionally, the company also engages in the developmental process of these areas. Furthermore, a large part of the institution is dedicated towards the recording, compilation and protection of records on archeological remains. Part of their duty is to ensure that these remains are available for use by the public. Also, the company has the mandate of acquiring museums for cultural posterity within the country. This organization works closely with the Department of Museums and archeology since it has been placed under its jurisdiction. (Qatar living.com, 2008)

Staff retention at Qatar Museum Authority

Background

However, before delving into the peculiar attributes of this case study, it is essential to understand the background against which the organization operates in. In other words, some information about Qatar as a state is essential in understanding employee polices and human resource issues related to this organization. Qatar is located between Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula. It is rich in oil reserves and is the world’s leading exporter of natural gas. The country’s population is concentrated in cities such as the capital Doha. This is because a large percentage of the country is covered with minimal natural water sources or native plants. Despite these poor climatic conditions, Qatar is one of the wealthiest nations in the world with ninety two percent of the population being urban. It has exploited its oil reserves to boost its economy and the standards of living of its people.

Also, in order to understand the staff retention policies at Qatar Museum Authority, it is essential to understand the overall culture of the country so as to place human resource policies in context. First of all, the country’s natives only make up twenty percent of the overall population. Other countries from the Middle East and Asia account for nearly forty percent and these include Indians, Lebanese, Syrians and Egyptians. The remaining forty percent is made up of Europeans. Furthermore, the country’s workforce is dominated by foreigners because only 10% of the labor force is made up of Qataris. Consequently, employment practices have been borrowed from western cultures. It is also essential to note that Qatar is predominantly Islam hence most of its indigenous people are governed by conservative Sharia laws. Women have began taking up positions in workplaces, however, they are yet to reach the status of women in other parts of the world since most families still believe that a woman’s place is within the home. Poverty levels in Qatar are extremely low and so are crime rates. (Qatar living.com, 2008)

Staff retention policies

Qatar Museum Authority (QMA) has a relatively low turnover rate for its employees. This observation is in line with what human resource professionals usually assert about such kinds of organizations. The latter experts claim that high employee turnovers are common in the private sector and in specific organizations such as call centers, retailing and leisure companies. However, in public organizations such as QMA, employee turnover rates are rather low. It should also be noted that in countries or regions where staff retention rates are low, then chances are that employment rates are also low. This particular case study does not concur with normal findings in other organizations because employment rates in Qatar are quite high yet employee turnover rates at QMA are low. This implies that the company could be employing certain positive human resource management polices to boost its staff retention rates. These issues shall be examined in depth in the subsequent portions of the essay. (Macafee, 2007)

A number of reasons are responsible for this low employee turner or high staff retention. First of all, QMA is good at offering benefits that seem attractive to current employees. It is a known fact in HR that a large section of employees get attracted to other jobs because those jobs have certain qualities that seem attractive to them. Consequently, the company has ensured that job qualities for its members are attractive enough to keep their members intact.

Another reason why staff retention rates are high in this organization is that the culture of the Qataris favors high staff retention.  Most people may be forced to leave a certain job because of domestic issues e.g. when a spouse has to leave the city or town in order to work in another region, then the other spouse may be forced to leave their current place of employment. When this goes on for a long time or amongst many members of the corporation, then overall turnovers will be high. However, because most females in Qatar are housewives, then the need for leaving such organizations is highly minimized. (Philips,1990)

The company’s managers have good relationships with their employees. Consequently, the decision to leave their place of employment may not be fueled by bad employee-supervisor relationships. However, this company does not have complicated exit interviews. Consequently, it is possible for individuals to leave their place of employment as long as they have made the decisions to do so. This factor can neutralize the good relationships that employees have with their line managers within the organization. However, because staff retention rates are rather high, then one can ascertain that the firm relationship between employees and supervisors overrides the lack of emphasis on exit interviews which would have been an impediment in other parts of the world. (ACAS, 2003)

Qatar Museum Authority has also been consistent in terms of providing adequate training for its  members. It should be noted that most of the companies in which employees voluntarily leave their places of employment are characterized by lack of developmental opportunities. However, owing to the fact that the company boosts its employee’s career opportunities by offering them certain training opportunities, then these employees are encouraged to stay. It should be noted that the training schemes in this company are existent but they are still not very rigorous. The opportunities do not come on a regular basis as is the case with many western-based enterprises. Consequently, this is an area in which the company can improve on.

The company’s recruitment policy is another platform that boosts high employment retention rates. Usually, the recruitment process is very rigorous in order to ensure that employees accepted for a certain job are the most appropriate ones for tit. This issue can sometimes be problematic for other organizations in which employment is quite competitive. In the latter environments, it is possible to find that employees admitted into companies are the ones that demonstrate very captivating potential. However, it is also possible to find that this same groups may not have the ability to meet the expectations of its respective employers because it may not be well qualified for the job. This makes an organization very counterproductive and may also push them to release such employees thus hiring new ones. In the end, employee retention becomes too low and this severely impedes the performance of those companies. (Macafee, 2007)

It should however be noted that Qatar Museum Authority has not been very rigorous about investigating why some of its employees leave. This is an issue that the company should consider for implementation in the future. In many other organizations in the world, companies usually interrogate their employees before their departure in order to find out why they left the company. While some employees may not be totally truthful in these kinds of discussions, it is essential to acknowledge the usefulness of such strategies for any human resource department. Perhaps the reason why the company has chosen not to investigate the reasons why some of their employees leave their organization is that most of them may be afraid of creating a contentious atmosphere after leaving an organization. These fears stem out of the need to get references from those same interrogators. The company should consider the role of external interrogators in determining why employees leave their organization. This is because the latter groups would be objective and may not intimidate these employees.

The case study have also ensured sound employee retention because of the realistic nature of their recruitment strategies. This company ensures that employee expectations are not too high prior to admitting them. In this scenario, the company may inform their clients about the nature of their respective corporation. Also, the company’s human resource teams may give potential employees a glimpse of the challenges and responsibilities to expect within the company. The overall result is that such employees may become disappointed with the reality of the situation and may end up departing from the organization.

Line managers within this organization have been made highly accountable. Usually, the company ensures that they keep a track record on those managers that have managed to keep their employees within the organization for as long as is required. This means that the company has the ability to look into some of the issues surrounding employee retention. For instance, the company usually requires that those managers who seem not to keep employees within the organization to do some training. This is an issue that has largely assisted the company in ensuring that staff members are motivated to remain with them. Additionally, the company usually offers promotional opportunities only to those managers that have demonstrated that they can maintain a steady and dependable workforce. (IDS, 2008)

Qatar Museum Authority has also ensured that their employees remain with the organization by giving them developmental opportunities. Usually, the members who are liable for promotion are usually those ones who come from within the organization and this usually gives them a chance to grow. However, the company has not fully demonstrated this methodology because it has been newly formed and much is yet to be done to ensure that employees are motivated to remain within the organization by availing them with the right opportunities. In line with this, the company is yet to embrace other methods of providing their employees with career opportunities. For instance, very few of them take advantage of horizontal growth since most of them are usually focused on vertical growth and when a higher position is not available, then employees are forced to contend with their career positioning at that particular time. In other words, QMA  needs to look for ways in which it can make their workforce more interested in the organization’s horizontal opportunities. For instance, if a person was in charge of archeological records and their preservation, then that person can still benefit from available opportunities to take up positions in the information technology sector so as to boost their knowledge and ability within their original field. Additionally, it will heighten their chances of remaining within the organization. (Taylor, 2002)

Another issue that the Authority has tried doing to retain their staff is employee consultation. They have ensured that they obtain the opinions of their employees on a regular basis. Usually, they may ask employees about a large number of issues concerning the organization. For instance, they may consult with their employees to find out their attitudes about certain workplace policies. In other instances, the company tries to determine some of the grievances that their employees have. Additionally, it is usually necessary for the company to lay out these issues to new employees as they get admitted. Additionally, the company has ensured that those who think of resigning are given an opportunity to air out their grievances to the company and a suitable compromise on the situation is reached by the affected employee and the company. Consequently, this encourages such employees to remain committed to the body and this has gone a long way in increasing their staff retention rates.

Most of the work schedules within this institution have been designed to ensure that persons within the organization have time to spend with their family members. The company does not operate under a twenty four hour basis. Consequently, most of the problems that come with hectic shift schedules are not common within this organization. Additionally, it has been careful in implementation of regular working days because most of the weekends are available to their respective employees. This has gone a long way in boosting employee morale because they have time to meet their personal obligations. It should be noted that this policy is synonymous with a large number of government affiliated bodies, more so in departments that do not have hectic work commitments. In other words, this policy has not been deliberately made for the Qatar Museum Authority. It is a policy that applies to a vast number of government affiliated institutions by default. Consequently, one can assert that there is still some room for improvement in this area. The company should include a provision for assessing employee attitude about their working hours and find out what they would like changed. (Rankin, 2008)

The latter authority has also ensured that their employees remain with them by emphasizing on work output rather than being present all the time. Human resource experts claim that companies which place too much emphasis on ‘presenteeism’ are likely to record lower levels of output owing to the fact that employees will feel obliged to be present at work just to satisfy their managers. In the end, these employees to very little work because they are aware that the most important performance measure within the organization is longer working hours. This case study has demonstrated a fundamental human resource management principle; that employees will be encouraged to carry out their respective duties as long as they know that their output is the main parameter used to measure their performance. If the latter was measured by working hours, then chances are that the affected personnel would not feel obliged to meet their end of the bargain by improving upon their work output. This issue has contributed towards higher employee retention rates and has thus set the pace for better performance in the future. (CIPD, 2006)

Job security is another issue that has encouraged employees to stay within the organization. While certain organizations may consider job security as precursor for complacency amongst its employees, others have realized the potential benefits that come out of offering employees an opportunity in steady employment. In the former mentioned organizations, it is true that employees may feel pressured to impress their employers. However, the overall result of such an approach is that these employees are uncertain about their future. They tend to look for other jobs that may offer them assured employment. Best practice theories in human resource advocate for job security claiming that the latter can be a great incentive for motivating employees and thus retaining them within the organization. (Taylor, 2006)

The issue of treating employees with respect and fairness has also gone a long way in boosting this company’s staff retention rates. Through the efforts of their administrators, employees all get fair chances to air out their grievances. Additionally, in dispute resolution, the company has been careful to ensure that all affected parties are examined carefully and that no stone is left unturned. Beside this, the company has also implemented a non discriminatory approach to employee treatment, recruitment, promotion among others. Statistics show that when employees feel that their managers are discriminatory, then they are likely to resign from the organization. QMA has ensured that their employees are offered equal opportunities and rewards so as to minimize any prevalent tension that may exist between management and employees if there is perceived unfairness.

In certain scenarios, reward systems are a large cause of discontentment and hence resignation among employees. When employees feel that they have not been given rewards that suit their level of input into the business, then chances are that those employees will be de-motivated and may even consider leaving the organization. Consequently, it is essential to institute reward systems that work with the employees under consideration. In other words, QMA have studied their existing employee population and have determined the most suitable reward system for them. The company’s pay policy is based on one’s position within the organization and those within similar levels receive equal pay. This has reduced any disharmony that would have been present if the company chose to implement these policies unfairly. Additionally, the company has considered prevailing market rates when setting up their pay levels. The external environment has a large part to play in determining the level of employee contentment with their pay. If employees are paid much less than their counterparts in other similar institutions, then they may be tempted to join those other competing institutions. In the end, companies that pay less than the market rates are very likely to record high employee turnovers. However, this is not the case with Qatar museum authority. While their payments may not be exceptionally high, they are enough to keep their employees content. (CIPD, 2006)

The last strategy that Qatar Museum Authority has used to keep staff within the organization is though defending their organization. The company is well aware that there may be other competitors who may require similar skills as the QMA employees. Consequently, these companies are then forced to “poach” employees from QMA thus causing them to loose a very precious form of investment i.e. its human resource. So in order to curb this practice, QMA has instituted a system in which it protects its employees by;

• Email protection
• Denying contracts to poachers
• Making contracts to prevent poaching
• Etc

Through these measures, it then possible to ensure that well qualified and capable employees remain within the organization.

PART 2

Performance management system that will achieve better results for the organization, teams and individuals

Before getting into the design of performance management systems, it is essential to understand the definition of the term. Performance management may be defined as the process that facilities high organizational performances by creating mechanisms that facilitate effective management. (Richer, 2005) Consequently, there are two major qualities that are necessary in performance management. The first is the availability of sound leadership and developmental procedures for creating this high level of performance. The second aspect is an understanding amongst all members of a team, or organization about the issues that are needed in order to create high performance levels. Furthermore, one needs to understand that performance management is part of an organizations’ strategy. Consequently, performance management permeates into all the following areas

• organizational culture
• organizational activities
• organizational style
• communication systems
• human resource polices

The following issues need to be integrated with performance management in order to obtain any meaningful results from its institution. (Houldsworth, 2007)

For Qatar Museum Authority, they first need to make performance management part of their strategic mission. The company can do this by examining all the long term strategies that they have planned and then look for ways of merging this with their performance management system. Additionally, the institution needs to ensure that there is a correlation between all the teams and individuals involved in the process. This also means that there should be link to the kind of people-management that will be needed in the process. There are three things that QMA needs to place a lot of emphasis on during the process of boosting their performance. They need to create mechanisms that encourage performance improvement, they need to look for ways of boosting development and they need to look ways of encouraging good relationships between management and the employee workforce. (Improvement and development agency, 2007)

There are certain prerequisites to achieving effective performance management systems. Managers within QMA need to ascertain that their employees understand fully their obligations and what is expected of them in their capacity. Thereafter, the company needs to ensure that employees have the tools needed to achieve those obligations. In other words, staff members need to be empowered with the right abilities and skills to meet their end of the bargain. Additionally, the company needs to ensure that they support their employees adequately enough by giving them feedback on previous performances. It is also essential for this organization to encourage their employees to give their contributions in the process of creating individual and team objectives. (Richer, 2005)

Performance management requires that employers be aware of the kind of influence which they can exert on their employees. This means that managers need to set their own examples, QMA supervisors need to exhibit positive traits that can then boost the success of performance management among members of the organization. (State of North Carolina, 2007)

It should be noted that performance management is not something that can be achieved within a short period of time. In fact, this is something that will go on for as long as the Qatar Museum Authority is in existence. This means that the company needs to look at it as something that is continuous rather than something that can be done over a short period of time. Additionally, the organization needs to ensure that the performance management system that they institute is something flexible. Rigid systems will only serve to impede possible outcomes rather than encourage them. Furthermore, the company needs to ensure that members of the organization are handled in a systematic manner. This means that the performance management system needs to start from the highest level i.e. the organizational level, thereafter, it needs to penetrate into departments then teams and subsequently individuals. This penetration ought to be done by changing the goals of all the latter mentioned parties so as to align them with the performance management system. (IDS, 2007)

After clarifying the basis upon which performance management will be based in Qatar Museum Authority, the company then needs to utilize a number of tools to implement their performance management system. First of all, the company can do this by ascertaining that they conduct performance review meetings with their employees on a regular basis. It should be noted that performance review meetings are different from appraisals. Performance appraisals were created by line managers in order to meet the demands of the human resource department, consequently, they lacked a two way approach. Performance reviews are more beneficial to QMA because they are founded upon creating a dialogue between management and staff. These meetings are usually very constructive. They are also characterized by an environment in which people can communicate with one another on an open level. In such meetings, the manager or human resource representative should not be seen to dominate conversations. Instead, the person being reviewed should take up most of the airtime. It should be noted that the overall goal of the meeting should be to reflect upon how an employee has been performing so as to create a basis for improving it in the future. (Cunene, 2006)

The second tool that the company needs to use in its performance management system is learning and development. In other words, employees need to be encouraged to perform by giving them incentives that allow development. This can be done by conducting development reviews. Development reviews are different from performance review meetings because the latter usually involve salary and performance discussions. However, the former is supposed to dwell on the developmental aspects of an employee’s life within the organization. The most appropriate method that Qatar Museum Authority can institute is the creation of personal development plans for all members in the organization. These plans need to be made in such a way that they encourage participation of other members of the organization other than just the human resource manager. It should be noted that other organizations usually require personal development plans once a year after the previous one. For new employees, it can be conducted one year after they have joined the institution. The purpose of this approach is to ensure that employees have had adequate time to consult and think about their future direction within the organization.

Qatar Museum Authority needs to change their approach to talent management given the latter assertion. The company needs to look for ways in which it can do the following

• Identify talent
• Nurture talent
• Retain talent

In other words, the company needs to ascertain that they have programs in place that can help in creating leadership skills and also those ones that can provide  guidance in terms of succession plans. Despite the above, QMA should be careful not to engage in too much of talent management to the point where they loose sight of their organizational goals. This means that the company needs to foster accessible, inclusive and integrated talent management. (Baron, A. and Armstrong, 2004)

Many organizations within the western world have embraced business coaching. This will form an important part of Qatar Museum Authority’s performance management system. Through this approach, individuals can develop their personal and organizational needs in such a manner that they can contribute towards overall development of the organization. Coaching should be made part of the personal development plan for all the individuals in the organization. QMA can institute coaching during certain times. For instance, when the company is conducting performance review meetings with its employees, then it can institute this method of assisting its employees. Consequently, most of them will fully understand what is required of them and most of them will be prompted to improve. It should be noted that business coaching is rapidly becoming a recognized area of expertise in HR. Consequently, QMA  should not regard business coaching as something that comes naturally to all managers. Instead, they should take their managers through rigorous training from acknowledged professionals in the sector.

It is essential for this organization to lay out performance standards and objectives necessary in governing the performance management process. In other words, it will imperative for members of the organization and the organization itself to be driven by targets in the forms of goals. The latter category can be defined as work related goals. On the other hand, the former mentioned category are considered as personal goals. Both categories are essential in achievement of the overall outcomes of the company’s objectives. Besides this, they also go a long way in creating some sort of mechanism that can assist in guiding performance. For Qatar Museum Authority, an example of a work related goal is ‘to build two museums annually’ or ‘to minimize loss of records by five percent.’ (Gillien, 2007)

In close relation to performance goals is the issue of setting performance standards. In certain scenarios, QMA may not be able to set time bound goals. Additionally, some goals may remain constant irrespective of the number of reviews conducted or the time that has elapsed since setting the goal. This means that such goals need to be considered as performance standards. They are usually described in quantitative measures. For instance, a performance standard that Qatar Museum Authority could use is ‘improving the accuracy of museum inspections’

This would be a favorable performance measure for the company because it will have a quantitative aspect which is accuracy but it is not time bound as it applies to all scenarios.

The company can also embrace the use of competencies and competences. The former term refers to a description of what people need to do in order to ensure that their jobs are well performed. In other words, these are related to one’s professions. On the other hand, competencies refer to a description of the behavior needed to perform jobs well in an organization. Qatar Museum Authority should consider this as a viable option because through the method they can establish both behavioral and skill parameters needed to get something done well. It should be noted that most organizations tend to ignore the behavioral aspect and focus on skills alone yet both these two issues are imperative in boosting performance. Usually, job analyses are conducted in order to determine the competences required to do certain jobs. However, for the competencies part, QMA will have to look at the ethics governing the company in order to lay out some of the most important issues. (Jirasinghe and Houldsworth, 2006)

Any effective performance management system must have certain measures in order to ensure that workers are complying with the set objectives. Through performance measures, QMA can pinpoint some of the causative factors low success. Furthermore, the company can have a platform that allows them to give their respective members feedback. This will go a long way in ascertaining what the current performance level is. This is particularly important to the organization because before the organization first understands where they want to go, they need to understand where they are.

Performance measures need to be done in a systematic manner. The organization should ensure that they use the right parameters to do this. This is because when they use the wrong measures, then the real problem impeding organizational progress will never be determined and the organization can never meet its expectations. The following are some of the things that QMA can use is performance measures

• Levels of competency
• Achievement of objectives
• Standards of performance
• Work output

Different levels of employees will require different levels of emphasis for each of the latter mentioned parameters. Consequently, QMA will have to conduct an audit of all their positions and determine which ones are better suited to certain levels. (CIPD, 2005)

Pay is an important part of performance management systems. Since many experts assert that using pay in a direct manner can impede teamwork, then it would be necessary for QMA to borrow this idea and then apply it in another way. The company can employ competence related pay. Here, members of the organization are only given pay based on their level of competence. This is not as direct as the performance related pay. The former mentioned method can result in more tension and hostility within the organization. However, the latter prevents this individualistic nature.

In order for this performance management system to work, then the company’s management team needs to give their members of staff essential feedback. QMA should adopt a three hundred and sixty degree feedback system. In other words, the company needs to ascertain that their respective members have a rounded view of the performance management system and that most of them do not have any form of bias to the feedback system. In close relation with this is the issue of problem solving. This should be a central focus in the company’s management system. The company needs to identify why some of its system are not working and what they can do about it. Examples of solution here include; eliminating bad management, dealing with poor leadership and curbing defective systems.

Conclusion

Qatar Museum Authority has reported good staff retention rates. The reason behind this positive outcome includes; good work schedules, accountable management and protection of employees. However, the company still needs to embrace a performance management system that can improve their achievement of organizational goals. This system needs to have performance measures, problems solving, business coaching among others.

Reference

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