THE SHOP AND OFFICE EMPLOYEES ACT NO.15 OF 1954

The rigid regulation of working hours and overtime is of serious concern to the manufacturing and service sectors in the context of the need to look at flexible working arrangements to adapt to market conditions. There are certain provisions in the S&O E Act which are totally obsolete. For example, regulation to sub section 1 prohibits employment of females in or about the business of any shop or office for any period exceeding 9 hours a day (inclusive of a interval). This in effect means that a female employee cannot work overtime at all in a shop or office. Quite apart from this provision being an impediment to women in the context of equal opportunities in employment, this restriction is totally out of date and is irrelevant in the current labour market environment. In this regard, it is also relevant to draw attention to the observations made in 2006 to the government of Sri Lanka by the ILO Committee of Experts on the application of Convention No.111. The observations make special reference to the restrictions imposed on women and the need to amend the law with regard to facilitating the employment of women in the Information Technology sector. It is interesting to note the following observation: “The Committee welcomes the information and asks the government to keep it informed of any further development in this respect as well as to provide it with copies of the relevant provisions as amended”. In addition, the Act also restricts overtime work of an employee to 12 hours a week. This restriction is unrealistic and cuts across the principle of “reasonable overtime” and needs to be reviewed.

The total prohibition of employing females after 8.00 p.m., other than in certain identified establishments under the S&O E act also needs to be reviewed in today’s context where females constitute a substantial proportion, if not a majority in the service sector. In this regard specific reference is made to the business process outsourcing industry which has developed in Sri Lanka and has a lot of potential for employment generation, especially to females. Call centres necessarily require working during the night for obvious reasons. Despite repeated requests/submissions made to authorities, the provision still remains in the statute book.

Another important matter that we have drawn the attention of the authorities is with regard to holidays. This needs to be addressed from two angles. Firstly, from the point of view of the excessive number of holidays. Secondly, from the point of view of the provisions in the different statutes applicable to the private sector. The following matters should be taken note of in this regard.

a) The period of 28 hours (inclusive of leave and holidays) a week to qualify for the 1-1/2 days paid weekly holidays is not sufficient by way of a qualifying period, as the objective of the weekly holidays provision is to grant a reasonable period of rest to an employee each week. There is no rationale in permitting an employee who does not work the full week (45 hours) the benefit of 1-1/2 days paid weekly holidays. The provision as it stands envisages 1-1/2 days paid holidays a week so long as an employee works 28 hours (inclusive of leave and other holidays). It is suggested that the qualifying period for 1/1-2 days paid weekly holidays be 45 hours including leave and holidays. An amendment on these lines will assist in permitting better attendance at work and higher productivity.



b) It is not at all logical to insist on additional holidays by way of weekly holidays when the normal weekly holiday coincides with a statutory holiday. The public sect



or and a majority of the Wages Boards do not stipulate such additional holidays. Many holidays are granted each year on account of public holidays coinciding with normal weekly holidays for employees covered by the S&O E act. When viewed in the context of the number of holidays in the country, this gives rise for even greater concern. Apart from the aspect of loss of working time due to these additional holidays, much disruption and confusion results as in many Companies, their offices need to be closed on such days whereas their factories remain open. The issue of working time lost and the resultant effect on productivity is exacerbated as these situations invariably lead to long weekends.

It is unfortunate that this issue was discussed before the Labour Law Reforms Sub Committee of the National Labour Advisory Council last year and a suggested compromise was that an amendment to section 5(2) of the S& O E Act be introduced in relation to weekly holidays by way of an additional proviso. The suggested proviso is as follows:

“Provided, however, that in the event a statutory holiday coincides with a weekly holiday or a weekly half holiday the employer shall either grant the additional holiday on any day prior to 31st December in that year or make payment of an additional day’s or half day’s wage as the case may be to the employee in lieu of such additional holiday/half holiday”.

2 Factor Hygiene and Motivation Theory

Frederick Herzberg, contributed to human relations and motivation two theories of motivation as follows:

• Hygiene Theory
• Motivation

Herzbergs' first component in his approach to motivation theory involves what are known as the hygiene factors and includes the work and organizational environment. These hygiene factors include:

• The organization
• Its policies and its administration
• The kind of supervision (leadership and management, including perceptions) which people receive while on the job
• Working conditions (including ergonomics)
• Interpersonal relations
• Salary
• Status
• Job security

These factors do not lead to higher levels of motivation but without them there is dissatisfaction.
The second component in Herzbergs' motivation theory involves what people actually do on the job and should be engineered into the jobs employees do in order to develop intrinsic motivation with the workforce. The motivators are

• Achievement
• Recognition
• Growth / advancement
• Interest in the job

These factors result from internal instincts in employees, yielding motivation rather than movement.
Both these approaches (hygiene and motivation) must be done simultaneously. Treat people as best you can so they have a minimum of dissatisfaction. Use people so they get achievement, recognition for achievement, interest, and responsibility and they can grow and advance in their work.
Therefore, the hygiene and motivation factors can be listed as follows:

Hygiene

• Company policies and administration
• Supervision
• Working conditions and interpersonal relations
• Salary, status and security

Motivators

• Achievement
• Recognition for achievement
• Interest in the task
• Responsibility for enlarged task
• Growth and advancement to higher level tasks

Effects on Individuals of Working Environment

The working environment has an effect on individuals as follows:

• It will provide at least sufficient for his basic needs and often much more. For example, 50 years ago in the United Kingdom, food and shelter were a person's basic needs. Today, most families will consider that the basic needs also include a car, television, overseas holiday, etc.
• It may or may not provide adequate security. Again, most individuals seek a secure job, there are others including some men on oil rigs, who seek high pay for a limited period but with limited security.
• It provides an individual with an identity. As a member of an organization, he carries out a specific function.
• It also gives the worker comradeship, freedom from boredom, and an interest during his working life.
• It also provides self-fulfillment for individual where consideration has been given to ensure that the job is creative and gives job satisfaction.
• It provides the individual with status. There is a status in all jobs providing the job content is investigated to make the work more interesting.

Effects on Work Groups of Working Environment

Rensis Likert has already described how the various management styles in an organization can effect the groups in an organization.
Whilst the working environment will affect individuals, it will undoubtedly have a greater effect on working groups, since whilst an individual may have certain needs, he will not obtain those needs if the working environment does not provide the needs of the working group.
The working group is the instrument of society through which in large measure the individual acquires his attitudes, opinions, goals and ideals, it is also one of the fundamental sources of discipline and social controls.
Therefore, the working environment has an effect on groups as follows:

• It will affect the morale of the group.
• It will determine whether the group achieves the objectives set by the organization.
• It will determine whether the degree of cooperation provided by the group
• It will motivate the group to give of their best.
• It will determine whether the human relations within an organization are good or bad.
• It will also affect the relations between management and trade unions.

Motivation

motivation Definition


Internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people to be continually interested in and committed to a job, role, or subject, and to exert persistent effort in attaining a goal. Motivation is the energizer of behavior and mother of all action. It results from the interactions among conscious and unconscious factors such as the

(1) intensity of desire or need,
(2) incentive or reward value of the goal
(3) expectations of the individual and of his or her significant others.

Motivation is the key to performance improvement

There is an old saying you can take a horse to the water but you cannot force it to drink; it will drink only if it's thirsty - so with people. They will do what they want to do or otherwise motivated to do. Whether it is to excel on the workshop floor or in the 'ivory tower' they must be motivated or driven to it, either by themselves or through external stimulus.
Are they born with the self-motivation or drive? Yes and no. If no, they can be motivated, for motivation is a skill which can and must be learnt. This is essential for any business to survive and succeed.
Performance is considered to be a function of ability and motivation, thus:

• Job performance =f(ability)(motivation)

Ability in turn depends on education, experience and training and its improvement is a slow and long process. On the other hand motivation can be improved quickly. There are many options and an uninitiated manager may not even know where to start. As a guideline, there are broadly seven strategies for motivation.

• Positive reinforcement / high expectations
• Effective discipline and punishment
• Treating people fairly
• Satisfying employees needs
• Setting work related goals
• Restructuring jobs
• Base rewards on job performance

These are the basic strategies, though the mix in the final 'recipe' will vary from workplace situation to situation. Essentially, there is a gap between an individuals actual state and some desired state and the manager tries to reduce this gap.
Motivation is, in effect, a means to reduce and manipulate this gap. It is inducing others in a specific way towards goals specifically stated by the motivator. Naturally, these goals as also the motivation system must conform to the corporate policy of the organization. The motivational system must be tailored to the situation and to the organization.
In one of the most elaborate studies on employee motivation, involving 31,000 men and 13,000 women, the Minneapolis Gas Company sought to determine what their potential employees desire most from a job. This study was carried out during a 20 year period from 1945 to 1965 and was quite revealing. The ratings for the various factors differed only slightly between men and women, but both groups considered security as the highest rated factor. The next three factors were;

• advancement
• type of work
• company - proud to work for

Surprisingly, factors such as pay, benefits and working conditions were given a low rating by both groups. So after all, and contrary to common belief, money is not the prime motivator. (Though this should not be regarded as a signal to reward employees poorly or unfairly.)

Importance Of HRM

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. Human Resource Management can also be performed by line managers.
Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.

organizational Psychology holds that successful organizations do not owe their success solely to market realities and sustainable competitive advantages. Actually, there is a lot more. Successful companies are those

 that consider their human capital as their most important asset. Facts and figures are the quantitative elements of successful management, yet the qualitative, i.e. the cognitive aspects, are those that actually make or break an organization.

Human Resources Management (HRM) is the strategic management of the employees, who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the strategic objectives of the organization. Assuming that the employees of an organization are individuals with own mental maps and perceptions, own goals and own personalities and as such they cannot be perceived as a whole, HRM holds that the organization should be able to employ both individual and group psychology in order to commit employees to the achievement of organizational goals.

Aiming to enable the organization to achieve its strategic goals by attracting, retaining and developing employees, HRM functions as the link between the organization and the employees. A company should first become aware of the needs of its employees, and at a later stage, understand and evaluate these needs in order to make its employees perceive their job as a part of their personal life, and not as a routine obligation. To that end, HRM is very crucial for the whole function of an organization because it assists the organization to create loyal employees, who are ready to offer their best.

The HRM activities in modern organizations are typically performed in communication with the General Management in an effort to provide a variety of views when a decision must be taken. In that way, decision making is not subject to the individual perceptions of the HR or the General Manager, but it becomes the outcome of strategic consensus.

The main goals / responsibilities of HRM are:

• To retain low employee turnover rate by inspiring people to work for the company

• To attract new employees

Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management (HRM) can be defined as “Administrative activities associated with human resources planning, recruitment, selection, orientation, training, appraisal, motivation, remuneration, etc…HRM aims at developing people through work” (BusinessDictionary.com). John M. Ivancevich (2007) explains it better as “the function performed in an organization that facilitates the most effective use of people (employees) to achieve organizational and individual goals” (p4). Each aspect of Human Resource Management is vital to the success of any organization. Without a cohesive balance, departments and organizations will likely fail. This paper will demonstrate how Human Resource Management attempts to overcome some of the issues and hurdles presented through planning, recruitment, selection, and development to create a prosperous organization that is united and thrives, as well as some possible steps to take to ensure the future success of the organization and its people.

  Human Resource Management activities play a major role in ensuring that an organization will survive by determining problems and developing solutions to them, as well as the selection of the employees to help lead the company to success. There are, however, many guidelines that must be followed, both set forth by the organization as well as the government that must be abided by. Discrimination is very alive in our world and HRM must take necessary steps to ensure it is not happening at any level. HRM can ensure discrimination stops right away but stopping it at the first step of planning, aligning and forecasting.
John Ivancevich (2007) defines Human Resource Planning (HR planning) as “both a process and a set of plans…it is how organizations assess the future supply of and demand for human resources.

Human Resource Management

Key result areas

(1) Developing Personnel Policies

(2) Manpower Planning

(3) Recruitment and Selection

(4) Orientation/Induction

(5) Training and Development

(6) Performance Appraisal

(7) Wages and Salaries

(8) Industrial Relations

(9) Health and Safety

(10) Personal Records

(11) Health and Welfare

(12) Employee Benefits

(13) Public Relations

(14) Communication

(15) Personnel Research

What then is Human Resource Management/Personnel Management ? (Definition)

It is that specialist function of management which has the prime responsibility for the following:

* Formulating, proposing and gaining acceptance for the personnel policies and strategies of the organisation,

* Advising and guiding the organisation’s managers on the implementation of personnel policies and strategies

* Providing personnel services for the organisations to facilitate the recruitment, motivation and development of sufficient and suitable employees at all levels,

* Advising the organisation’s managers of the human consequences of change

The policy-making and strategic responsibilities are carried out by senior Personnel Managers; advisory and guidance responsibilities are carried out both by senior and middle ranking Personnel managers: the provision of personnel services is very much a middle-management responsibility; finally, the management of change is primarily a senior personnel role.

By virtue of their specialist function, all Personnel Managers, regardless of seniority, are able to concentrate exclusively on personnel (HRM) matters, unlike their colleagues in other departments (line or functional) who are only able to give a proportion of their time to such matters.  How other managers see their personnel colleagues depends on several factors such as the organisational climate, the managerial styles of the managers concerned and the extent to which the Personnel department is able to be helpful.  Personnel Managers sometimes have to tread a delicate path between offering constructive, and sometimes unpopular, advice to their colleagues and appearing to tell them how to handle their own staff.  Under modern conditions of employment, the needs and wishes of staff are fairly well protected, and as a result, many issues which formerly, could have been dealt with solely by a manager acting in his own, now have to tackled jointly with the Personnel department (HRM department).

Personnel policies, like any other corporate policies, are not just the preserve of a particular group of managers.  Such policies have to be agreed by the top management team as a whole, and approved by the Board.  The role of the senior-personnel staff is to formulate draft personnel policies and to argue the case for their acceptance.  In many instances it will be the personnel department which provides the initiative for the introduction of new policies and the revision or rejection of existing policies. 

Key areas of personnel policy can include the following:

* Recruitment and Selection

* Pay and Benefits (Pensions etc.)

* Relations with Trade Unions or Staff Associations

* Career Development

* Training

* Safety and Health

* Employment Legislation etc.

As in other policy areas, personnel policies are guidelines for behaviour stating what the organisation will do, or positively will not do, in relation to its employees and employee affairs:

(1) Examples of personnel policies are as follows:

* Every job vacancy will be advertised within the organisation before any external advertising takes place,

* The Company will encourage employees to pursue training and education opportunities, where this might qualify them for promotion or career development moves within the organisation,

* The organisation will always negotiate in good faith with the representatives of recognised independent

trade unions,

* The Company will always negotiate in good faith with the representatives of recognised independent trade unions,

* The Company will always endeavour to obey the spirit as well as the letter of laws relating to employment; it will actively discourage any activities which might cause a breach of the law.

(2) Strategic advice role of the human resource management department/personnel department

Strategic advice on personnel/human resource matters is directed towards the fulfillment of the organisation’s corporate plan, and covers issues such as:

-The manpower plan,

-The development of harmonious and mutually respectful relationships with trade union representatives,

-The maintenance of employee motivation by means of fair and equitable payment systems and of

-Adequate personal and development opportunities, and, finally,

-The organisation’s actions in relation to new developments in employment legislation.

(3) Personnel services represent the production aspect of Personnel Management/Human Resource Management. Personnel services include the following: 

-Recruitment services (eg advertising, preparing candidate specifications, shortlisting candidates, arranging interviews and handling the correspondence)

-Pay procedures and associated procedures, such as the provision of job evaluation services etc.

-Appraisal procedures (ie appraisal forms, timetable for appraisals, maintenance of records etc.)

-Employment services (ie conditions of service procedures - informing , managers and employees, recording employee details, handling enquiries etc.)

-Employee relations - especially organising arrangements for management - union meetings, taking records, providing relevant information on pay rates, recent agreements, legal aspects etc., monitoring grievance and disciplinary procedures etc.

-Training services (ie providing information about training, handling arrangements for courses, maintaining records etc.)

-Safety, health and welfare services (eg organising safety committees, maintaining safety records, provision of welfare and canteen facilities etc.)

(4) Organisational development function of the Personnel Department

In addition to the (1) policy-making, (2) strategic roles and (3) personnel services roles, most modern Personnel departments are expected to have something useful to say about the implications of change for the employees of the organisation.  In some organisations this is specifically referred to as the Organisation Development function of Personnel Department.  Whether it has a title or not, the activity itself is directed towards the recognition of change, from whichever quarter, and the assessment of the likely impact of that change on personnel affairs in the organisation.  The introduction of new technology, for example, could reduce the demand for certain categories of employee, whilst increasing the demand for other categories.  This, in turn, could lead to arrangements for the introduction of the new technology and other personnel issues.

Ultimately the role of Personnel Department will be determined by the attitudes of the top management of the organisation.  Where personnel is recognised as having a major part to play in the renewal and maturation processes of the organisational system, then the personnel manager will be given a key role in the corporate development of the organisation.  Where, by contrast, Personnel is seen mainly as a provider of services to other managers, then the personnel manager will be given a routine administrative role, enlivened at intervals by ‘fire-fighting’ responsibilities whenever there is a crisis.