Introduction As one of the full time students at the college, it is worth to mention that being able to undertake my course as I work on one of the insurance firms in the country was not an easy task until knew that were it not of the human resource department at Insurance Firm. I was not able to keep with the schedule that was there. Hong Kong AIA Insurance Firm has various departments and many of the employee working were both part-time and permanent employed ones.

Insurance Firm was able to manage the high number of employee since it also had reliable mechanisms to be able to comprehend the best way to handle its functions or operations. The HRM department of Insurance Firm was the one that was mandated to handle all the functions and operations of the firm. This means that Insurance Firm depended on the HRM (Human Resources Management) to undertake the running of the functions such as the selection and placement processes, the performance management processes, the Career Development and finally the succession planning function or process. This paper will therefore discuss the HRM process of the Hong Kong AIA Insurance Firm. Selection and Placement Selection process is the process of getting or gathering of information for the reasons that an evaluation and decision can be reached for the best candidate to be employed for a long-term of short-term basis. This means that it is the best process that can be used to get the best candidate on board and to be able to offer the needed values in the process that are considered legal and ethical for any selection and placement process. In my organization, it is worth to mention that the ability to get the expected candidate using the process is twofold; first, it means that the decision that will be made by the selection and placement board and the technological aspects that are able to integrate the job design, the job analysis with the selection process. The insurance firm over the years been able to use the help of technology such as Virtual Job Analysis (VJA tools) to undertake background test among other valuable tools that are handy in the process.

The importance of selection and placement to the firm are: Insurance Firm without any level of element of discrimination is able to fairly evaluate the job applications of all the applicants’ capabilities and differences. It is wise to note that the board that is mandated to handle the process is made of 10 members who have the obligation to support the success of the insurance by making sure that the management gets the best of the employees on board. Nevertheless, it has to make sure that the process is free and fair to all the applicants so does the process must be free from discrimination. It is important that an employee is able to meet the demands and the needs of Insurance Firm. However, for this to be met the employees must be able to manage his attributes, skills and traits, this is what is called employees competencies (Buller ; McEvoy, 2012). For Insurance Firm to meet its needs, it must also be able to manage the competencies of the employees in the right framework and procedures. If this is met, it is expected that the employees will be motivated and ready to work, as a result, there performance and results are expected to increase.

The below are the ways that Insurance Firm is able to improve employees performance. It is vital to consider that training is key to the success of an employee so does Insurance Firm. It is noted that it offers the employees knowledge and skills needed to handle chores, roles and responsibility. In view of the same, it is vital to state that the performance of the employees are dependent on the level training offered (Flamholtz, 2012). Strategically managing employees is not the core activity of Insurance Firm but is not less important than other core functionalities.

Without well organized and good staffing achieve of goal is either impossible or inefficient. Strategic HR management assignment of Right Person at Right Place and Right Time. Strategic HRM goes for settlement of weakness and challenges in performance (Armstrong ; Taylor, 2014). It includes proper staffing, regular monitoring/reporting, performance appraisal, punishment and reward, remuneration and incentives. Additionally strategic HRM will cope for growth and development opportunities for employees.

So as a whole strategic employee management thinks for long term benefits for employee, their social status and for organization itself too.Performance Management Managing attitude and behavior means the attainment of mechanism to motivate, reward and punish the employees respective to their performance. If the employee are lagging on organization need and expectations then empowerment, refreshment and development programs should be conducted. Regular monitoring, recommendation, performance appraisal, recognition of their ability and letting them know management is concerning their career development will help employees feel good toward Insurance Firm on long run. Among those three HR activities Managing Employee Attitude and Behavior is most challenging. Other two activities are objective phenomena in which we can distinguish what is right/wrong and they have concrete value but when it comes to subjective phenomena of attitude and behavior it is hard to perform (Armstrong ; Taylor, 2014).

Because the recognition of problem occurrence, need of correction or need of appraisal is depending upon mentality of manager. When an employee is performing not as expected then it is hard to measure up to what extent he is lagging and how much motivation do he need. Moreover in current world people behave vast different from what they think of (Bratton ; Gold, 2012). Then a fire will be burning inside without visible smoke. Therefore, manager should be able to care and cure the situation wisely. The other way to ensure that the employee’s attitudes and behavior is in order is by making sure that they are well rewarded as well as given incentives from time to time. It is ideal to note that there are various ways that employees can be rewarded.

The first way to make sure that this is done is by offering better rewards to the employee but this has to be done in a clear manner (Kim, 2012). For this reason, it is evident that the employee has to be taken through various ways to make sure that the reward given to the employee right; this must be given as a result of better performance. But for those that are not able to keep better performance should also be punished using the same regulations and policies as denoted by the organization (Jiang, Lepak, Hu & Baer, 2012). Besides, it is also ideal that better performing employees should be given incentives. Promotion of employees is also one of the ways that can be considered as reward system. The best way to increase their performance of the employees in Insurance Firm is to make sure that there is a compensation plan that meets the expectations of the employees.

In view of the same, it is clear that organizations should make sure that they use various types of compensation plan approaches. Mostly used approaches are internal and external approaches to compensation (Bratton & Gold, 2012). A compensation plan comes with outstanding incentives and rewards systems. Incentives are motivational elements used by organization to increase the performance so does the productivity of employees in Insurance Firm (Bratton & Gold, 2012).

There are two type of incentives that are mostly used by organizations: financial and non-financial incentives. An example of financial incentives are wages and salaries while non-financial incentives are appreciation of work done and feedback of their performance appraise. On the other hand rewards are given to employees after a successful performance in Insurance Firm (Buller & McEvoy, 2012). It is a way to increase the level of performance hence one of the best management strategies for the employees. There are various ways that the organization can be able to increase or boost the employees development something denoted as employees growth in order to boost their competencies. First, coaching and mentoring is one of the ways that organization is able to improve the ability of the employee(s) in order to boost their competencies (Flamholtz, 2012). This means that coaching will be the best way to ensure that the employees get the needed information that can be used to foster change and success in the growth as well as creation of skills, traits and attributes.

The other factor that can be used to develop and employee is using personal development. This entails creation and growth or emotional balance as well as intellectual growth. Lastly, the other way is to ensure that the employees are aware of career development goals and objectives. It is considered that most employees do not understand the meaning of career development so does its importance.

With the above issues raised, it is possible that all the employees are able to develop towards the right employee competencies (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2011). The best way to determine that an employee is undertaking his roles and duties effectively is by evaluating their performance. This can only be done using performance appraisals. It is ideal that the world is coming up with measures to be used to determine the employees’ performance (Jackson, Schuler ; Werner, 2011). Value addition, it considered as one of the ways that can boost the performance of employees in the workplace.

There are various other ways that this can be undertaken as below: Ensuring that the employee work observe their personal habits is one way to boost performance, checking the attitudes of the employees is also one of the key issues that needs to be addressed in order to improve their performance. Lastly, ensuring the quality of work as well as undertaking random checks is key for better and reliable employee’s performance evaluation (Jiang, Lepak, Hu & Baer, 2012). This can also be measures using: By using an attendance, determining the efficiency of the employees and evaluation of the productivity are key measures used to determine employee’s performance. There are various types of benefits and safety programs that Insurance Firm can use to manage the employees. Once the employees are provided with a reliable and effective benefits programs, it is very clear that they will increase their reliability in Insurance Firm hence their level of performance (Daley, 2012). Better safety measures and programs in Insurance Firm is key to any success of Insurance Firm. It means that better provision of benefits and safety measure are key performance and motivational booster in Insurance Firm (Flamholtz, 2012). Career Development Employees are under the management of organizations that help manage their concerns.

Such organizations are known as Career Growth (Jackson, Schuler ; Werner, 2011). However, the unions are also bounded by law to make sure they work under certain regulations and policies. The below paragraphs will help explain the roles and functions of unions and laws towards employees management. It is vital that employee is able to meet the needs as well as the demands of the organization.

This is only possible if the employee is also able to execute his roles with the needed skills, attributes and traits. This is what is considered as employees competencies (Buller ; McEvoy, 2012). The management of the above is therefore known as managing employees competencies. For the success of an organization, it is vital that the management is able to keep the competencies in order to win the mind as well as motivate the employees for better results and performance.

The following are the ways that an organization can increase employees or manage their competencies. The history of Career Growth in the United States started in the 19th century with the onset of National Career Growth (NLU), 1866. Unlike some of contemporary unions, the National Career Growth (NLU) had a different working formula. This was the reason why it failed to execute its mandate. Later there was the Knights of career development that started in early 1869. It had a member of more than 700,000 workers.

Its main issues was to address the working hours from 10 hours’ work shifts to eight-hours working schedule as well as the opposition of child career development (Jiang, Lepak, Hu & Baer, 2012). The United States today, has the best systems in place to make sure that the employees are managed with the best regulations. The Career Growth have evolved over the years to make sure that work hand in hand with the government to ensure the employee have a better workplace (Kim, 2012). For instance, the government and the Career Growth are key stakeholders towards making career development laws and regulations in the US. There are various types of Career Growth in the world. The first is craft unions; they have their origin in Europe. The union was started by blacksmiths and bakers (Jiang, Lepak, Hu & Baer, 2012).

It regulated the production so does controlled the prices products in the country. Secondly, come industrial unions; they represent a certain type of trade, industrial unions that consider the needs of workers in all the industrial sectors. The last is public sector unions; it works as t6he industrial unions since it represents employees and workers in all the sectors.

Have a working unions is key to the management process of the employees. The first step starts with creating and organizing committee (Jiang, Lepak, Hu & Baer, 2012). At this steps, they is need to determine Insurance Firm structure, the information of the employees such as age, name, address, working department amid others.

The second process is to adopt and issues program. The third step is to sign up the card unions; the workers are allowed to join the union in this step. The fourth step is to win the union elections. Lastly, negotiation of employees’ contract is key to the success of the process hence it’s the last step (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2011). This a process that the workers, the unions, the employees or the government undertakes to make sure that there is an agreement between the workers and the employer. In the process there is a negotiation of wages as well as other conditions that are vital.

This a means of internal dispute resolution in which the worker may be able to get his grievances addressed. Most of the collective bargaining process included a procedure of resolving and filling grievances. It is noted that within a union environment, the process will include employees, union leaders and members of employees’ management team (Jackson, Schuler ; Werner, 2011). The process may differ from employer to employer under various type of collective bargaining agreement and process. The NLRB is Insurance Firm that has been mandated by the government to make sure that it’s ensure that the collective bargaining process so does that of the unions are checked. It is a cross checker that makes sure all the employees have the needed rights that can be supported to make sure there is ecareer developmentate clarity amid the employers and the employees (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2011).

This is considered as a process in which the National Career development relations Board permits the worker to call for special attention to undertake an election to get rid the union as their exclusive representative. It is vital to note that an employer cannot help an employee to undertake decertification process. This is an attack by unions to hinder and organization or industry to undertake its normal business process. The objective of the process is to make sure that the union is able to meet its demands of making sure that issues presented by the employees are addressed (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2011). Public sector career development relations are not hindered to the unions that represent the employees or the workers that are employed by the government agencies.

Unions of all types have been able to expand to make sure that the workers are represented in the best way possible (Jiang, Lepak, Hu & Baer, 2012). Public sector career development relations was started to represent workers that work in public sector organizations or firms, It is a trend that the expertise and skills so does the knowledge of some of the HR professionals are not up to current demands and tasks. In view of the same, it is clear that the trend is changing and many of them have opted to undertake training to make sure that have updated competencies. The next trend is that unions have changed their registration of new members (Jiang, Lepak, Hu & Baer, 2012).

Today, workers are able to apply for registration into union using online applications. It is important to consider that training is one of the ways that the employees are able to get the needed skills that they can use to improve their competencies (Buller & McEvoy, 2012). Training is considered as a vital tool when enriching the employees with the needed information as well as facts that can not only change their attributes, skills and traits, but also increase their performance in the workplace. The performance denoted can only be adjusted by gaining experience, yet this can only be attained from employees training (Flamholtz, 2012). Figure 1: Employees Training Session Succession Planning Firms or companies in the United States have come up with measure to ensure they have ecareer developmentate systems that are able to meet the needs and the demands of the employees. The use of Electronic HR systems is one of the examples being used. For instance, E-HRM (Electronic Human Resource Management) and HRIS (Human Resource Information System) are example of technology being used to improve the success of the systems (Jiang, Lepak, Hu & Baer, 2012).

The first principle is shared information. It is a vital part of creating high performance HR systems. It is evident that knowledge management is the second and most vital process that is key to the success of High-Performing HR Systems. On the other hand, Egalitarianism; equality in Insurance Firm is very important principle of High-Performing HR Systems (Flamholtz, 2012). The last principle is performance reward systems.

For each and every performance of the employees there is need to have a reward to motivate the employee for better performance in the future. One of the major task in HR activities be Work design and workforce planning, that includes job design describing the individual employee’s roles and their term of services. Work design makes the management guided towards a definite path that guides to proper staffing (Daley, 2012). The job are divided into tasks and tasks are assigned to individuals. Workforce planning is about the arrangement of manpower either by retaining employees or hiring new in case of insufficiency of existing numbers (Bratton ; Gold, 2012). Workforce planning tells how to supply the manpower demand of work design. It is vital that an employee is able to determine his or her scored. It is a vital process because it has helps in determination of the skills and knowledge needed.

Once an employee is able to ascertain the HR scorecard he/she is able to train to increase his score. This is a step that all managers should make sure that have. Despite the fact that it is a long process, having the right High-Performing Organization is key (Daley, 2012).

It starts by having the right recruitment and selection process. It later calls for a better and reliable compensation plan. Lastly, is needs good jobs designs and better management of employees’ competencies (Buller & McEvoy, 2012). Recommendations It is considered that most employees are morally upright when they feel secured. Most firms also consider that it is less costly to care than to cure. Lastly, it is evident that good and reliable or safe workplace is always key to company productivity. I agree that it is not possible for Insurance Firm to attain safety in a short run. I consider that the management has a greater role to play to ensure that this is possible.

If a senior management of Insurance Firm is able to keep up with better trends in order to boost the ideals of the company when it comes to safety, then it is clear that not only will production improve, but also less cost will be attributed to employee’s compensation. Change of attitude is dependent on three key factors that are the education level of the individual, the environment and the experience of the same. It is clear that a positive environment is able to create a positive attitude (Buller ; McEvoy, 2012). In view of the level of education, the change of attitude calls for getting the right knowledge over a certain type of activity.

On the other hand, bad and good experience influences attitude. The environment in which a person is determine the nature of attitude ones has. For example, a school environment with better education results increase new student attitude on passing exams as well and vice versa. Positive attitude in Insurance Firm is related to better or higher levels of job satisfaction and has varied benefits to improved communication, team and group work, higher levels of morale and productivity. It is evident that all the above benefits are directly or indirectly attributed to good levels of job satisfaction. Contrary, negative attitude is attributed to cripple production, dismantled teamwork hence job dissatisfaction (Jiang, Lepak, Hu ; Baer, 2012).

I suggest that the first process that organizations should use to manage the employees if ensuring that the recruitment and selection process is in order. This will help reduce low employee competencies and cost of training. I recommend that valuable and efficient measure should be taken to make sure that there is reliable regulations that much with contemporary workers’ demands since trend such as globalization has changed the way employee should be managed.

Summary and ConclusionsFinally, theory of Cognitive Dissonance (CD) describes poor HRM processes contribute to a condition of stress, or a feeling of internal discomfort caused by conflicting ideas, values, beliefs or practices. Essentially, this is a situation where two or more opposing thoughts are causing psychological discomfort. Humans have an inner drive to maintain harmony between attitudes, beliefs and practices and when faced with an internal clash or those cognitions, our natural reaction is to reduce or eliminate it to prevent emotional discomfort. This is noted to be the main reason for employee dissatisfaction and low performance in Insurance Firm.