Another 110 individuals would be necessary in administrative positions; 120 people in the cleaning crews and the rest of 150 should occupy diverse positions.
4.2. Recruitment, selection and hiring
Once the event coordinator has identified the staffing need, he moves on to recruiting and selecting the individuals to occupy the available positions. Recruitment and selection is generically "concerned with any means available to meet the needs of the firm for certain skills and behaviors" (Armstrong, 2000, p.201). What these processes generally do it to attract prospective employees and determine which of the candidates are best suited for the available positions. It is imperative that the processes of recruitment and selection be efficient, effective and fair (ACAS). As the best candidates are identified, the human resource manager, after an understanding with the executives, makes an employment offer to the individual. This employment offer will not only include the specification of the salary, but also that of premiums, bonuses, salary renegotiations and so on.
Following the example of the community celebration, the event manager has to find means of attracting prospective employees (the word employees is hereby used as a convention and refers to the 900 individuals required in the organization of the festivities). There are several means in which the planner can attract candidates to the positions. He can for instance use word of mouth, by which he tells his acquaintances that he needs people to fill in positions and asks them to refer the jobs to interested individuals; this method has the advantage that the acquaintances will generally recommend reliable and capable individuals. Other means of securing candidates are those of advertising in the local media, on the internet or at the local employment agency (Arthur, 2001).
The candidates who contract the event planner have to be interviewed and the manager is placed in a situation of identifying the most suitable candidates. Given the complexity of the community celebration, it is generally required of the candidates to have expertise within the job for which they apply and to be team players. It is crucial to hire people with these skills in order to maintain a positive and productive working atmosphere. As the event coordinator, or his delegate/s in charge of staffing, identifies suitable candidates, he makes an offer of financial (and non-financial) rewards. If the candidate is satisfied with the offer, then the parties sign a contract and the individual is hired for the position (Yate, 1993).
4.3. Training
In most companies conducting business activities, training has become part of the business model. Its purpose is that of preparing highly skilled staff members to complete their professional tasks in the best possible circumstances, generally with time and cost efficiency. Yet, training also serves the purpose of increasing the morale of the employees, who feel better valued by the entity, and who also have more confidence in the future professional formation, as they are able to acquire new skills (Machin and Wilkinson, 1995).
Within the community celebration, training sessions are less common than within the business community. Still, they occur and can be explained once again by the complexities of the event. In this order of ideas, the event gathers 20,000 visitors, meaning that it will be extremely crowded and demanding. The people serving the food will have to be quick and expeditious, on top of the original necessity of being good at their job and polite to the "customer." Then, the administrative staff handles celebrities, which might issues special demands, meaning then that the staff has to be able to handle these chores, as well as cope with the mental pressures.
The training sessions for the staff working at the community festival are shorter and less punctual in comparison to the training sessions offered by economic agents. Yet, they are equally necessary and useful. They could be organized for the duration of a couple of hours, often a couple of days before the actual event.
4.4. Motivation and retention
Similar to the training sessions, the motivation and retention of the staff is less important at the festival in comparison to a business climate. Yet, it is still crucial to the success of the event. Motivation specifically refers to the offering of several financial and non-financial incentives that satisfy the staff and motivate his presence in the company and his hard work and support to the overall organizational goals. The human resource theory argues that each individual is driven by individual needs and that the company should strive to satisfy these needs (Weiner, 1992). Generally, if the employer is able to satisfy the employees' needs and wants through motivation strategies, then...
The means used by the planner to attract the staff should by themselves present the individual with the ability to be part of a great event, part of a team, earn money and live a unique experience. Then, once the candidate becomes interested, the planner ought to continue his motivation strategy by making the candidate feel part of the event's community. As a parenthesis, the culture of the community is essential to motivating the staff.
It is important for the planner to emphasize on the remuneration offered to the prospective staff member. He should reveal both the financial as well as non-financial gains. If the employee should work in the kitchen, he would be allowed to take home some leftover foods. If he should work as a sound engineer, he would be presented with the opportunity of meeting a celebrity face-to-face. The fair treatment of the employees, combined with the ability to deliver on the promises made during the recruitment process, will ensure the satisfaction, motivation and retention of the staff, and will even guarantee the success of future events.
4.5. Conflict resolution
Invariable, whenever there are people, conflicts arise. Within the organizational context, the resolution of conflicts often falls in the responsibilities of the human resource management department. A conflict in the workplace may occur due to professional reasons or due to personal reasons. Elements which foster a conflicting climate include lack of communication, frustrations related to insufficient resources (capitals, commodities, personnel or technologies) or problems and inconsistencies within the leadership act.
The primary approach to conflict is that of creating an environment which does not foster disagreements, but one which promotes communications and open dialogue. Yet, since conflicts will arise, ways of dealing with them have been identified. Five of these methods are: avoiding the conflict, accommodating the conflict, promoting the conflict as a source of competition, promoting compromises, and finally, promoting collaboration between parties (McNamara).
Given that conflicts between the staff members arise throughout the duration of the community festivity, the event manager should first assess the gravity of the situation. If it proves out to be a simple quarrel, he should ignore it. If on the other hand the conflict seems more severe and even stands chances to negatively impact the event, the manager should play the role of arbitrator between the parties. The role of the arbitrator is similar to that of the mediator, with the specification that the decision made by the arbitrator is binding, whereas the decision made by the mediator is treated as a suggestion and is not as such binding (von Thulen Rhoades, Kolkey and Chernick, 2007).
4.6. Communications
Effective communications are pivotal for the success of any social or business endeavor. Within the context of human resources however, it can be perceived as the utmost important element. Communications set the basis for the relationship between employer and employees, as well as among employees themselves. The approach each managerial team takes in relationship to this dimension of human resource management varies based on the unique features of the managerial team, the workforce, the nature of the operation conducted and so on. What is however constant is the presence of communications; throughout the past recent years, a trend has been set in the direction of direct communications (Brunstein, 1995).
This type of communications sees that the executive leaders address the staff members directly, reducing as such the gap between the workers and the executives and bridging a more trustworthy relationship. Due to these benefits then, it is advisable for the event manager to communicate with the staff members through direct interactions, rather than delegates, as often as possible.
Another element that should be taken into consideration by the even manager is that of creating an infrastructure that allows communications. This could refer to the event coordinator gathering information on the telephone polls in the vicinity and the signal of the mobile phones, the existence of wireless internet connections at the selected location and so on.
4.7. Diversity
The final HRM dimension used in the organization of events is that of diversity. Diversity is generally understood as a behavior by which one includes and treats equally fair people with various cultural, economic, social, religious, political or otherwise backgrounds. The University of…
