The Impact of Human Resources Development Mechanisms on Building Teamwork

Abstract

Purpose of the Paper: This study aimed to explore the impact of human resources development mechanisms on building teamwork. Design/Methodology: The study has used the descriptive analytical approach, where a questionnaire was employed as the study instrument. The questionnaire consisted of (3) demographic variables and (25) items that were put together to measure the impact of human resources development mechanisms on building teamwork. The study population consisted of all male and female employees that work at five-star hotel chains in the Jordanian capital Amman, which amounts to (15) hotels up until the end of 2017, while the sample of the study consisted of (339) male and female employees, which was chosen using the stratified proportional random sample. (355) questionnaires were distributed; only (346) of them were retrieved, where the loss amounted to (9), and (7) questionnaires were excluded due to their invalidity for analysis. Findings: The results showed that there is an impact of human resources development mechanisms and its variables (learning, performance appraisal, performance rewards) on building teamwork at (α ≤ 0.05). Practical Implications and Originality Statement: This study will be beneficial for the hotel chains in Amman in general, and for five-star hotel chains in the Jordanian capital Amman and its affiliations in specific. This study can motivate the hotel chains in Jordan to design an accurate strategy that might help them increase the teamwork among their employees. The researcher certifies that the intellectual content of this paper is the product of her own work and that it has not been submitted elsewhere. The researcher also certifies that all the assistance received in preparing it as well as sources have been acknowledged. Corresponding author: Nadera Hourani Email addresses for the corresponding author: fgunawan@binus.edu First submission received: 16th April 2018 Revised submission received: 24th July 2018 Accepted: 30th August 2018 Introduction Human resources are considered one of the most important factors of production and assets of an organisation; it is needed in order to develop the competences of the staff, and is involved with all the managerial decisions and practices that have a direct effect on the human resources of an organisation (Solkhe and Chaudhary, 2011). Human resource development in a business is the sub-system of the human resource management; it is concerned with providing a supportive atmosphere that allows employees to improve their skills for the sake of the company’s benefit on one hand, and for themselves on the other. In other words, human resource development mechanisms can be referred to as the various tools used to develop the personnel of the employees of a company (Saraswathi, 2010). Human resource development can also be referred to as a constant process that aims to ensure the development of employees’ abilities, vitality, motivation, and efficiency. In an organisational context, it is referred to as the improvement of the workforces’ capabilities in regard to the needs of the organisation. It Journal of Business and Retail Management Research (JBRMR), Vol. 13 Issue 4 July 2019 www.jbrmr.com A Journal of the Academy of Business and Retail Management (ABRM) 126 involves employing the processes through which employees are prepared to give out their best to achieve the objectives of the organisation (Jain, 2014). The core of any business, regardless of sector, relies on the organisation’s greatest asset, its human resources; this is because it determines the success or failure of an organisation. Yet, the value of human resources was not always apparent. In fact, human resource development has been frequently limited to either recruitment, compensation, or legalities to manage the personnel (Richman, 2015). When employees become aware of the use of performance management data in order to make critical decisions concerning rewards, career management, and skill development, they realise how much the organisation values them and their hard work and therefore, start contributing more (Biron et al., 2011). In addition, formalised job-based performance evaluation guides individuals to achieve higher levels of performance while providing opportunities for two-way communication, thus enhancing the employees’ motivation (Wickramasinghe and Liyanage, 2013). On the other hand, Individuals are mostly interested in performance management that addresses interpersonal and internalised goals, task-performance, a positive work climate, increasing one’s standing and position in the organisation, as well as the maintenance of values, in addition to the accomplishment of the task goals that will be influenced by the level of achievements within interpersonal goals, such as maintaining a positive work group climate (Wickramasinghe and Dolamulla, 2017). Numerous organisations began resorting to human resource mechanisms as strategic tools to promote favourable behaviour among their employees and influence their knowledge and skills, thus, increasing their productivity and performance. For this particular reason, human resource development mechanisms have been recognised as the most foundational activity of the Human Resources system (Rusuli et al., 2017). However, as demands increased, so did the need to employ human resource development mechanisms; in addition, the modern business environment is facing challenges as well, given the lack of teamwork among its employees. Since the human resources are the most important and valuable resource for any organisation regardless of type. It is competent and motivated employees who achieve the tasks and provide the service in a company, and the more these employees are effective, the more they contribute to the organisation and its customer base. It is also important to build and improve a culture of teamwork in order to develop the business. Thus, contributing to the vitality, capability, motivation, competence, and efficiency of employees is necessary on a continuous basis, as well as providing an environment where teamwork is the foundation for every action that is taken within the organisation. Therefore, the current study was conducted to explore the impact of human resource development mechanisms on building teamwork. Literature review Human resources development mechanisms One of the main goals of Human Resources Development is to increase the performance of organisations and make it better. It has been emphasised how important it is to gain competitive advantage through employees and the importance of several Human Resource (HR) practices and their necessity to obtain this advantage, and using an integrated and clear ‘bundle’ that mutually reinforces Human Resource practices rather than using separate ones (Vermeeren et al., 2014). According to Uddin et al. (2016), human resource development is essentially defined as a consistency of 3-Cs: competencies, commitment, and culture; these three elements are necessary for organisation to function well; without competencies, an organisation couldn’t function efficiency, and without commitment, it would face a slow-paced growth, while culture supports the organisation and allows it to live longer. Human resource development focuses on improving the current abilities of the employees and helps them gain new competences that are required to achieve both individual as well as organisational objectives. It is considered as an organisational framework that aims to improve and develop the personnel by implementing certain sub-systems or approaches (Rohit, 2017). It has many variables, but for the aims of the current study, only three will be discussed as follows: Journal of Business and Retail Management Research (JBRMR), Vol. 13 Issue 4 July 2019 www.jbrmr.com A Journal of the Academy of Business and Retail Management (ABRM) 127 Learning Organisational learning is a complicated and a multidimensional concept with different definitions, which cover wide ideas that aim to describe the phenomenon of it. The term is defined as a learning process that requires communication between employees on organisational and inter-organisational levels and involves investigation and analysis in order to achieve the organisation’s goals and objectives (Popova-Nowak and Cseh, 2015). Performance appraisal Performance appraisal has become an essential part of the human resource development program within an organisation. It provides knowledge regarding work-related behaviours among individuals as well as a chance to comprehend their strengths and weaknesses and come up with approaches to use their potential by enhancing their weaknesses and improving their strengths. It is useful to both the organisations and its staff, as it provides an assessment of their performance based on their managers’ feedback and improve their abilities (Jain, 2014). Performance rewards Rewarding employees for their performance and behaviour is considered important for an organisation, as rewards and recognition advances human resource development, gives employees a sense of accomplishment when rewarded, and increases their loyalty to the organisation. Rewards can also enhance the employee’s welfare, which would improve their motivation and ability to perform workrelated targets, making them more profitable and capable of accomplishing tasks (Ebimobowei et al., 2012). Building teamwork Teamwork is one of the most important perceptions that have gotten a lot of consideration. It is defined as an organised group of employees who work together and support each other to achieve a certain objective. Thus, teamwork can be considered a mutual understanding and a collaborative action that intends to achieve the set goals. Teamwork is extremely beneficial to organisations, as it enhances the growth, development, and productivity of its employees (Hanaysha and Tahir, 2016). Team Building is a process that allows groups to reach