IMPLICATIONS FOR HR SPECIALISTS

The main implications for HR specialists of the factors that affect individuals at work are as follows:

● Individual differences – when designing jobs, preparing learning programmes, assessing and counselling staff, developing reward systems and dealing with grievances and disciplinary problems, it is necessary to remember that all people are different. This may seem obvious but it is remarkable how many people ignore it. What fulfils one person may not fulfil another. Abilities, aptitudes and intelligence differ widely and particular care needs to be taken in fitting the right people into the right jobs and giving them the right training. Personalities and attitudes also differ. It is important to focus on how to manage diversity as described in Chapter 57. This should take account of individual differences, which will include any issues arising from the employment of women, people from different ethnic groups, those with disabilities and older people. 

● Personalities should not be judged simplistically in terms of stereotyped traits. People are complex and they change, and account has to be taken of this. The problem for HR specialists and managers in general is that, while they have to accept and understand these differences and take full account of them, they have ultimately to proceed on the basis of fitting them to the requirements of the situation, which are essentially what the organization needs to achieve. There is always a limit to the extent to which an organization, which relies on collective effort to achieve its goals, can adjust itself to the specific needs of individuals. But the organization has to appreciate that the pressures it makes on people can result in stress and therefore become counter-productive.

● Judgements about people (attribution theory) – we all ascribe motives to other people and attempt to establish the causes of their behaviour. We must be careful, however, not to make simplistic judgements about causality (ie what has motivated someone’s behaviour) – for ourselves as well as in respect of others – especially when we are assessing performance. 

● Orientation theory – the significance of orientation theory is that it stresses the importance of the effect of environmental factors on the motivation to work. 

● Role theory – role theory helps us to understand the need to clarify with individuals what is expected of them in behavioural and outcome terms and to ensure when designing roles that they do not contain any incompatible elements. We must also be aware of the potential for role conflict so that steps can be taken to minimize stress.