Aphra Behn – Gender Economics in the Rover

TERM PAPER Gender Economics of Restoration and Aphra Behn INTRODUCTION The Restoration era allowed women to step into what was historically an essentially masculine space, that of literary and theatrical production. As women stepped on stage, they entered a market- they were commodities displayed to attract a larger crowd towards the theatre.Thus even though through writing or acting a woman could gain financial independence, unlike men they weren’t selling their work, they were ostensibly selling a part of themselves. A woman could not escape commodification even if she didn’t enter this particular market – matrimony and the nunnery were also means of buying and selling of women’s ‘wares’. The hymen itself was a commodity, as a woman could only marry if she was a virgin.In fact arguably in Restoration Comedy no witty unmarried was without ‘property and a maidenhead’. Thus, arguably, a woman could not escape being a prostitute in the Restoration Period. As a woman author who thus reflected the trend of women actors entering the world of theatrical production, Aphra Behn was continually negotiating the dichotomy of economic freedom and control of women in this market-space. Thus her work would be the ideal case study to understand the gender economics of the Restoration Period.In this context, I would like to position Aphra Behn’s works, The Rover Part I and II, The Feign’d Curtizans, The Luckey Chance, The Forced Marriage: or The Jealous Bridegroom and ‘The Golden Age† to understand the place of women in the economics of the Restoration Era and how they negotiated in the market-space they were now stepping into. WOMEN’S PROBLEMATIZED INTRODUCTION IN THE MARKET The restoration of Charles II to the throne brought a almost deliberate reversal of the previously prevalent Puritan ethic. There was a new kind of apparent sexual freedom.He introduced the practice of actresses playing female roles. However, actresses earned far less than actors, thus had to resort to being mistresses. Also, publishing by the women was tantamount to prostitution. Typically, the Restoration comedies portrayed the lives of hedonistic young men who filled their leisure hours with drinking, whoring, theatre and â€Å"wit†. They needed money but had no inclination to actually earn it and preferred procuring it through marriage to an heiress. As in the typical Restoration comedy, men seek sex and money, the girls want a say in the choice of a marriage partner.Thus evidently the heroine is allowed freedom of thought but her freedom of action is confined to ensuring that she is a virgin when she gets married to the man of her choice. As a successful professional playwright, Aphra Behn definitely wrote plays which are typical of the Restoration, yet she manages to comment on a topic which touched her very closely: the true status of women in the society as they begin to participate a little more actively in the constructs of gender economics. POSITIONING APHRA BEHN The prologue of The Rover, claimed to be written by â€Å"A person of quality†, states: As for the author of this coming playI asked him what he thought fit I should say (pp 4) It was only in the third issue of the first edition in 1677 that Aphra Behn authorship. This was because she was always attacked for poaching on the territory of male playwrights. In fact, as quoted in Angeline Goreau, Reconstructing Aphra (New York: The Dial Press, 1980) Aphra Behn once famously said: The Woman damns the poet Indeed, the fact that Aphra Behn could earn a living writing for the theatre was precisely what condemned her. The muckraking satirist Robert Gould wrote ypical stander in a short piece addressed to Behn that concluded with this couplet: For Punk and poetess agree so Par, You cannot be This and not be That. Robert Gould’s verse, with its equation of ‘poetess’ and ‘punkà ¢â‚¬â„¢, provides some evidence of the culture of gender in Restoration England. In her case, however, the status of professional writer indicated immodesty: the author, like her texts, became a commodity. Thus one notices that she stages this relationship between female creativity and public realm or between what Robert Gould, in euphemisms, refers to as ‘this’ and ‘that’, in her works. THE VIRGINAL COMMODITY AND FETISHDowry system among propertied classes had been in place since 16th century, but by the end of the 17th century the women to men ratio was 13:10, thus cash portions had to grow to attract worthy suitors. The value of women fell by almost 50%, marriage by choice, became almost unthinkable. Thus in economic terms, women through marriage had evident exchange value; that is, the virgin became a commodity not only as breeder of the legal heir but for her portion. Women in the seventeenth-century marriage market took on the phantasmagoric destiny o f commodities: they seemed no more than objects or things.The issue arises repeatedly in plays and verse of the period: not only are marriages loveless, but, once married, women lose both independent identity and control of their fortunes. Women’s lack of access to institutions of knowledge spurred protest from writers as it reduced them to things, rather than educated individuals. Also the cultural narrative of portion, jointure, and legal dependency in which the women of this time is written about is clearly not as subject but as object of exchange.Also, as discussed earlier, when Aphra Behn wrote her seventeen play (1670-1689), the theatrical hierarchy, like all cultural institutions, was patriarchal in control and participation. Aristocratic or upper-class males generally wrote the plays, purchased tickets, and formed the coteries of critics and ‘witlings’ whose disruptive presence is remarked on in countless play prologues and epilogues. Also, in its machine ry and properties, the Restoration stage was now arguably more dreamlike, seductive, and commodity intensive. Here the idea of a fetish becomes important.A fetish, by Freud’s description is the male impulse to eroticize objects or female body parts, which derives from a disavowal of a material lack (of the penis on the mother’s body). The second understanding of the word is through Marx’s account of the felicitation of the commodity: at the moment of exchange, the commodity appears to be separate from the workers who product it; the ‘special social character of private labours’ disavowed. This idea is relevant because on the stage, the Restoration actress, is nothing but an ornament in the male gaze.This attitude is apparent as Thomas Shadwell links the new phenomenon of female performers with painted theatrical scenes, both innovative commodities for audience consumption: Had we not for yr pleasure found new wayes You still had rusty Arras had, and thredbare playes: Not Scenes nor Woomen had they had their will, But some with grizl’d Beards had acted Woomen still. What this actually meant in the culture’s sexual economy is perhaps more accurately suggested by meta-theatrical references in plays’ prologues and epilogues.The actress playing Flirt in Wycheley’s The Gentleman Dancing master satirically invited the â€Å"good men o’ th’ Exchange’ from the pit into the backstage tiring-room You we would rather see between our Scenes† Thus rather than producing a performance, the actress emerges as a spectacle unto herself, a painted representation to lure the male spectator. In her professional duplicity, in her desirability, in her often public status of kept mistress, she is frequently equated with a prostitute, thus acquiring the definite status of a commodity.APHRA BEHN’S PARTICIPATION IN COMMODIFICATION AND FETISHISATION The Rover (1677) and The Second Part of The Rover (1681) are Behn’s only plays to label a character a courtesan. In her wholly original The Feigned Curtezans (1679), virgins impersonate famous Roman courtesans and near-debauches occur, but marriages settle the confusion of plots and the financial stink of prostitution is hastily cleared away. However it is germane note that even if courtesans figure by name in only three plays, the commodification of women in the marriage market is Aphra Behn’s first and most persistent theme.Beginning appropriately enough with The Forced Marriage: or The Jealous Bridegrom (1670), all of Behn’s seventeen known plays deal to some extent with women backed by dowries or portions who are forced by their fathers into marriage in exchange for jointure, an agreed-upon income to be settled on the wife should she be widowed. Aphra Behn concentrated on exposing the exploitation of women in the exchange economy, adding vividly to contemporary discourse on the oppressions of marriage . ‘Who would marry,’ asks Behn’s Ariadne (The Second Part of the Rover), ‘who wou’d be chaffer’d thus, and sold to Slavery? In the context of fetishization, it is easy to note the metonymic connection between the painted actress and the painted scenes in the theatre, therefore it is not surprising that the first woman to earn money circulating her own representations had a (somewhat combative) relationship with the theatre apparatus. Aphra Behn, more than any other Restoration playwright, explores the fetish/commodity status. She utilizes the conventional objects of Restoration plays – the marriage market, sexual intrigue, masquerade, flamboyance – even as she signals their contradictory meanings for women.It is ostensibly a contradiction of all feminist expectation to discover that Aphra Behn contributed to that visual pleasure by choosing to exploit the fetish/commodity status of the actress. The stage offered two playing space s, the forestage used especially for comedy, where actor and audience were in intimate proximity, and the upstage or scenic stage, with wing-and-shutter settings, producing the exotic effects needed for ‘discovery scenes’ of heroic tragedy.Writing mostly comedies, Aphra Behn might be expected to follow comic convention and use the forestage area, but as Peter Holland notes, she was ‘positively obsessive’ about discovery scenes. Holland counts 31 discoveries in ten comedies, most of which are bedroom scenes featuring a female character ‘in undress’. Thus displayed, the female performer becomes a fetish object, affording the male spectator the pleasure of being seduced by and, simultaneously, of being protected from the effects of sexual difference.Thus, in Behn’s texts, the conflict between (as she puts it) her ‘defenceless’ woman’s body and her ‘masculine part’(of being a writer), is staged in her insiste nce, in play after play, on the equation between female body and fetish, fetish and commodity-the body in her ‘scenes’. Like the actress, the woman dramatist is sexualized, circulated, denied a â€Å"subject position† in the theatre hierarchy. This unstable, contradictory image of authority emerges in as early as Behn’s first play’s prologue (to The Forced Marriage, or The Jealous Bridegroom, 1670).In this, an actress who, pointing to the Ladies’ praises both them and presumably the woman author: Can any see that glorious sight and say A woman shall not prove Victor today? The ‘glorious sight’, is, once again, the fetishised representation of the female, standing on the forestage, sitting in the pit, and soon to be inscribed as author of a printed play. THE ROVER The Rover is a fascinating study in the context of this paper as it not only thematises the marketing of women in marriage and prostitution, it demonstrates (quite liter ally) the ideological contradictions of the apparatus Behn inherited and the society for which she wrote.Prostitution of both genders In Angellica, Hellena, Florinda and Lucetta – Behn shows the fate and inescapable commodification of all women. However the idea is also problematized and even turned on its head. The man is also equated to a commodity in this carnival world. Angellica equates dowry to prostitution money, thus saying that a man sells his own self in the marriage market, for a woman’s â€Å"fortune†: Pray tell me, sir, are you not guilty of the same mercenary crime?When a lady is proposed to you for a wife, you never ask, how fair-discreet-or virtuous she is; but what’s her Fortune-which, if but small, you cry-she will not do my business-and basely leave her, thou she languish for you-say, is not this as poor. (pp 38) Thus we see that Angellica’s prostitution image is cross gendered, for men are designated â€Å"mercenary† in n egotiating sexual contracts between husband and wife. Indeed, Willmore himself appears prostituted in accepting five hundred crowns from Angellica, and in the subplot, Blunt’s barbarous treatment by Lucetta parallels Angellica’s by Willmore.The Portrait of Angellica The first references to Angellica situate her beyond the market in which we expect her to function. She is not behind an exotic vizard, or ‘discovered’ in her bedchamber after the parting of the scenes, but is first seen as a portrait. She is introduced by Belvile, as: A famous courtesan, that’s to be sold’ (p. 23). For a mindful audience, this immediately raises a question, to be sold by whom? Released by the earlier keeper’s death, Angellica and Moretta are two women who seem to be in business for themselves.At this point, however, Blunt reminds us again of the object status of the woman, as of her painted signs: I’m sure we’re no chapmen for the commodity ( p. 28). On the other hand, Angellica’s self portrait has been compared to that of a Petrarchan mistress who attempts to turn her sexuality into an alternative form of power, since she has been excluded from the marital marketplace. Wilmore’s â€Å"appeal of love† attracts her and not unlike ladies in marital market, she gives up herself and her gold. If one analyzes this situation, it can be said that this was an inescapable fate.As Angellica watches men gaze upon her portrait, she is, first and foremost, a sight, an object to be claimed. Only in Behn’s text is this phenomenon made so evident, the paintings here function as fetishes, as substitute objects for the female body. Indeed, the portrait which advertises her charms is arguably a sign of submission to the male spectator, offering up the female figure as an eroticized object which exists to serve his pleasure. Thus evidently Wilmore can reduce Angellica’s representation from an icon of autho rity to a pornographic image (a fetish) and claim the right â€Å"of possession, which I will maintain†.He is responding to something very real in the portrait. The same sense of power of a transcendent male authority is also registered by Willmore’s gaze and the stealing of the potrait. In effect Angellica is then doubly commodified-first because she puts her body into exchange, and second because this body is equated with, indeed interchangeable with, the art object. Thus then the woman â€Å"that’s to be sold† is then even sold by theatre itself, which, like the portrait equates woman with an art object to be displayed and attract an audience. Like Willmore, the theatre operates with the king’s patent and authorization.The masquerade of portraits and ‘discovery scenes’, do not demonstrate freedom, but to flaunt the charms that guarantee and uphold male power. In fact in the wooing/bargaining scene with Wilmore it becomes clear that Angellica wants to step out of the exchange economy symbolized by the painting: Canst thou believe [these yielding joys] will be entirely time, / without considering they were mercenary? (p. 39) By eliminating her value-form, Angellica attempts to return her body to a state of nature, to take herself out of circulation in the market. However, s Aphra Behn poignantly points out through her texts, Angellica will fail due to the ecomonic structure which circulates all women as marketable objects. The Virgins This brings us to the other two â€Å"leading women† in the play, both virgins and of high birth, Hellena and Florinda. Ironically, the virgins’ first costume, the gypsy masquerade, represents their actual standing in the marriage market – exotic retailers of fortunes (dowry and ‘maidenhead’). Their masquerade defers but does not alter the structure of gender economics which sold a woman’s body.On this level, as often discussed by critics, t he play presents a dramatic world dominated by the two principal patriarchal definitions of women, the whore and the virgin, but in which the boundary separating one category from the other has become blurred. First there is the elder born, Florinda. The properties which sustain Florinda’s status as an autonomous subject free to choose her own marriage partner are largely those for which the men in her family want to â€Å"protect† her; it is her beauty, rank and fortune that make her such a prized asset on the marriage market.It is Florida’s rebellion against the commodification of forced marriage that destabilizes her position within patriarchy, for a while. However, she seeks to maintain this position as it gives her the agency to somewhat choose her husband. This is why Florinda remains inscribed within male discourse and chides her sister for being â€Å"curious in a discourse of love† despite being a maid â€Å"designed for a nun†. At the sam e time, she is degraded to the level of an object, a commodity, however precious, in a coercive structure of exchange.Because her self-esteem derives entirely from her status as a lady, she is able to measure her human value only by patriarchal standards. Her near rapes show this predicament. Men (Wilmore, Blunt, her own brother) seem to be chronically incapable of accepting the Florinda’s â€Å"No† as something which means â€Å"No†. On this level, the scenes are written with Behn’s male spectators in mind and accommodate the most complacent of responses to Florinda’s predicament. Then there is Hellena.The idea of Hellena being a female Rover is highly problematized as she is a woman and can be a Rover only in her words and not actual action. In fact all Behn attempts to do through her is minimize the difference between the status of the virgin and the whore as both Hellena and Angellica as advertise themselves in a way. According to the critic Na ncy Copeland, Hellena’s self-blazon in the first scene functions like Angellica’s pictures hung out of lure buyers of her body (â€Å"Angellica advertises herself publicly; Hellena’s self advertisement†¦ takes place within the privacy of her home†).This difference is eroded, however, when Hellena is blazoned at the beginning of Act V. Also, We learn that Hellena’s portion derives from her uncle, the old man who kept Angellica Bianca; thus the gold Willmore receives from the courtesan has the same source as that which he will earn by marrying the virgin. It is not only through Hellena and Angellica that similarity between virgin and whore develops. For instance, both Florinda and Lucetta also advertise themselves publicly.Florinda passes a jeweled miniature of herself (another portrait) to Belvile, who then circulates it among his companions. Lucetta, the cunning whore, parades herself provocatively before her propective new dupe: This is Stran ger, I know by his gazing; if he be brisk, he’I venture to follow me; and then if I understand my Trade, he’s mine. Also at night in the garden ‘in undress’, Florinda, carrying a little box of jewels-a double metonym for dowry and maidenhead, is also clearly reducing herself to an object of exchange.Thus while Angellica attempts to step out of the surface, material and exchange connotations of a painting, the virgins of the marriage plot are talking ‘business’ and learning the powers of deferral and unveiling. CONCLUSION A woman then, arguably, was nothing more than an object. She seemingly couldn’t escape being bought, sold, bargained for, fantasized about, fetishized and gazed at. However, contradictorily, even though her unbroken hymen (or â€Å"virgin heart†), â€Å"portion† (or â€Å"gold†) made her a valuable commodity-it made the man a commodity too as he sold himself for dowry or generally money and sex.Yet somehow the Restoration man remained in the subject position, in both the marriage market and the world of literary and theatrical production. This is what puts a woman in a no-win situation in both the private and the public sphere and Aphra Behn brings out this very discrepancy of norms and attitudes in her texts. Her texts expose the ugly bias in the celebration of new found sexual liberty in her time. Here she shows that the gender economics of the Restoration era are complicated but they definitely squarely position the woman as a commodity.Aphra Behn’s women may, to a limited extend, try to escape this fate she does not gloss over the fact that these women will fail to do so till the entire market is restructured. BIBLIOGRAPHY Behn, Aphra. â€Å"The Rover. † Prakash, Asha S Kanwar & Anand. The Rover : Worldview Critical Edition. Delhi: Worldview Publications, 2000. 6-108. Diamond, Elin. â€Å"Gestus and Signature in Aphra Behn’s Rover. † (1989). JST OR. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. Gallagher, Catherine. â€Å"Who was that Masked Woman? The Prostitute and the Playwight in the Comedies of Aphra Behn. † Women's Studies (1988). Pancheco, Anita. Rape and The Female Subject in Aphra Behn’s The Rover† (1998). JSTOR. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. Prakash, Anand. â€Å"Designing Women Socially and Market-Wise : Glimpses of the Restoration Strategy in The Rover. † Prakash, Asha S Kanwar & Anand. The Rover. Delhi: Worldview Publications, 2000. 162-177. Spencer, Jane, ‘The Rover and the Eighteenth Century’, Aphra Behn Studies, ed. Janet Todd, (Cambridge, 1996). Stephen, Szilagyi. â€Å"The Sexual Politics of Behn’s Rover: After Patriarchy† (1998). JSTOR. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. Naina Thirani B. A. (Hons) in English, II Year (4th Semester) 2013.

Human Resource Management Process Essay

Human Resource Management Process Introduction            The role of a Human Resource department is ever changing in today’s volatile business environment. Over the years HR have become strong strategic partners within an organization by providing functions such as recruitment, training and development and retention. Human Resource, in order to be strategic, works directly with all levels of management in an effort to help with strategy and the growth of the company to meet their vision. One very important aspect is talent acquisition. Having the right people in key roles within the organization is vital to the success and growth of any company. Performing this function includes job analysis, task and KSA statements, preparing job descriptions, recruiting, and then setting compensation. The entire process from job analysis to compensation is discussed as follows; Job analysis            When a new job is created or a vacancy occurs, it is the role of a HR representative to fill that void. In order to perform this function they need to first understand what role they are trying fill is and what skills and responsibilities this new role would require. By conducting a job analysis they are able to further define important elements of any job and then search for the person or people that are the most qualified and would be a good fit for the company. Job analysis is the process of describing and recording aspects of jobs and stipulating the skills and other requirements necessary to perform the job. It refers to the process of Gathering and collecting information about responsibilities, duties, skills, the outcomes and the environment that influences working in a particular job field. The job analysis process will help the HR managers find the ideal candidate for the position. Task statement            Task analysis is the process by which a task statement is derived. The task statement is the most important element of task analysis process because it provides a standardized, concise format to describe worker actions. It is a document that defines and describes the specific job to be performed by the candidate. The creation of these task statements may take considerable thought and insight. However, the rewards of conducting this due diligence before taking on the task of hiring a new employee, makes the process very simple and less stressful. Everything is clearly defined and above all, measurable in the future. KSA statement            KSA statements are the job related knowledge, skills and abilities that an applicant must perform successfully in a certain position. It is a statement that helps employees in the process of identifying the employee who best fits in a particular field. KSA statements help hiring managers identify the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to successfully perform a specific job. Knowing the tasks that have to be performed, helps you to identify the KSA that the candidate must possess in order to perform to the companies standards and in return hire the right candidate. Job description            Writing a job description is an important step in the human resource staffing plan. A job description typically outlines the necessary skills, training and education needed by a potential employee for a specified job. It provides an outline of what should be done by a particular employee in a specific position. It should give a brief overview of the role, how it relates to the organizational vision, a list of key responsibilities, requirements and qualifications.Once a job description is prepared, it can serve a basis for interviewing candidates, orienting a new employee and finally in the evaluation of overall job performance. By incorporating and utilizing job descriptions, an organization can better understand the experience and skill set needed to enhance the overall success of the company. Recruitment plan            Once the Job analysis, Task statements, KSA statements and the job description are completed, the next step is to search for candidates. A complete recruitment plan identifies vacant positions in an organization that need to be filled so that so that an adequate job advertisement can be created and placed appropriately for a specific period of time. Most recruitment plans include searching both internally and externally from the organization. When organizations choose the right people for the job, these people are not only great performers with their job, but also tend to stay with the organization longer. Selection method            The key to the selection process is to choose a strategy for screening candidates that will allow an organization to view the most qualified candidates for the vacant position. Employee selection process usually entails reviewing, screening, interviewing, testing then selecting the best available candidates for theavailable position. Organizations also make use of many outside agencies when completing the selection process. Drug screening and reference checks are often done by a third party. Many companies are beginning to incorporate assessment tests and activities into the selection process to insure additional training is not necessary for potential candidates. A selection method chosen by the organization should allow the selection panel of a company to pick the candidate that is most suited to fill the vacant position. Performance evaluation            A performance evaluation is a review and discussion of an employee’s performance of assigned duties and responsibilities. Performance evaluations need to be in place to support decisions made by management and the HR department. The appraisal is based on results obtained by the employee in their job. These evaluations can also be used to teach as they may show areas that need improvement as well as provide backup for recognition of a job well done. It measures skills and accomplishments with reasonable accuracy and uniformity.The performance evaluations need to be structured and performed in a timely manner as well and managers need to be trained appropriately has to how to conduct these evaluations. Compensation plan            Compensation is a systematic approach to proving monetary value to employees in exchange for work performed.Compensation may achieve several purposes assisting in recruitment, job performance, and job satisfaction. Job analysis can be used in compensation to identify or determine skill levels, compensable job factors, fiscal and supervisory responsibilities and required level of education which is related to salary level. Job descriptions are used as a tool for determining salary ranges.Many people associate compensation with money but when looking for a job, many compensation packages are designed with a package of products in mind. Due to the fact that compensation isn’t just about the dollar figure, compensation packages need to be discussed in great detail when hiring new employees.Overall compensation strategies have to be designed to meet the overall objectives of the organization.            Would you change anything in your process at this point? No I wouldn’t change anything. This is because of the following reasons:            I don’t think that I would change anything about my paper because I did do extensive research on a HR Receptionist position to determining the skills, qualifications and experience needed for this type of positions. There is a legal need to do a job analysis. Employers who wish to demonstrate that their selection processes are valid will need to start with the job analysis. There are also management reasons for doing the analysis. It yields an improved process for obtaining, retaining and managing organization’s work. Job description communicates the organization’s expectations to its employees. Conclusion            In conclusion, we have discussed the importance of the job analysis process which includes task statement, KSA statement and job description. Job analysis is the procedure used to determine tasks, duties and responsibilities of each job, and identify knowledge, skills and abilities appropriate to perform the job.The job analysis process can render positive outcomes like increased profits, employee retention and reaching overall organizational goals when implemented successfully within an organization.            We have also discussed importance of human resource department’s ability to recruit, select candidates appropriately and continue ongoing performance evaluations with the organization’s employees.An organization cannot build a good team of working professionals without good Human Resources. The key functions of the Human Resources Management team include recruiting people, training them, performance appraisals, motivating employees as well as workplace communication, workplace safety, and much more. As you can see, human resource plays a very big role in the foundation of an organization. Literature review on compensation Introduction            Compensation can be defined as any rewards obtained by employees in return for their labor. Compensation can be divided into three aspects, that is; direct financial compensation, indirect financial compensation and non-financial compensation. Direct financial compensation consists of pay received in the form of wages, salaries, bonuses and commissions provided at regular intervals. Indirect financial compensation includes all financial rewards which are not included in direct compensation, and form part of the social contract between the employer and employee such as benefits, leaves, retirement plans, education and employee services. Non financial compensation refers to topics such as career development and advancement opportunities, opportunities for recognition as well as work environment and conditions.            As much as many employees focus on direct financial compensation, it is the non-financial rewards that are more effective in the long term employee engagement. Job position covers the various duties such as interesting duties and responsibilities, autonomy, challenges, authority feeling of achievement, advancement opportunities and opportunities for recognition.            Work environment focuses on; competent supervision, fun and effective co-workers, flexible scheduling, modified retirement and fair and consistent practices and policies. Scholarly review            Levels of firms’ productivity widely depend on good compensation strategies. In small businesses, coordination between general resource management practices lacked, hence, diminished productivity levels. Besides, personnel related problems are arising as a result of unclear, outlined policies on human resource management and compensation in small businesses. Inadequate and inefficient management of human resources often adversely affects employee’s perception of equity, resulting in dissatisfaction, inadequate motivation, higher turnover and lower productivity (Tate, et al, 1982). Unlike small businesses, large businesses rely on a well organized, formal personnel development to ensure effective human resource management.            There are various policies that aid in proper human resource management and increment of productivity levels. These policies are based on both wage payment and other fringe benefits. In order for these policies to effectively work, one need to enact proper maintenance practices which include; appropriate induction of an employee, conducting performances review, providing employee service and instituting governance.            However, the surveys were done to come to a conclusion on the gap that was observed between ‘what could be’ and ‘what was’ (in terms of professional human resource management) might be caused by at least four factors; a lack of formal personnel management training, a lack of perception on the part of decision makers that productivity is improved by use of generally accepted human resource management practices, a lack of incentive because employers are family members or an inability to use human resource management practices effectively because of size and monetary constraints.            Compensation can also be achieved through recognition of personnel. Recognition of personnel is done by considering the following; the length of service, above and beyond program, peer to peer, retirements and sales. Rewarding of the recognized personnel is done through; certification and or plaques, cash gifts, certification and company logo merchandise. Recognition is meant to; salute years of service, create a positive work environment, encourage high performance, foster a culture of recognition and raise personnel morale.            Not all gestures succeed. Celebrating employees can also backfire, as far as the research conducted by Business Scholars at Harvard Business School. There were two reasons that emerged; first, â€Å"employees strategically gave the program improving timelines only when eligible for the reward, and call in sick to retain eligibility,† scholars explain. Secondly, â€Å"employees with perfect pre-program attendance or high productivity suffered 6.8% productivity decrease after program introduction, suggesting they were de-motivated by awards for good behavior they already exhibited.†            Compensation related issues have called for relevant compensation plans and decisions in order to cater equally for personnel. There are various decisions that human resource management makes concerning compensation as highlighted below;            Compensation decisions are essential in compensation strategies. Compensation of personnel depends on the market position (level of pay relative to competitors), internal versus external orientation, hierarchy (the pay structure and the basic-job versus skills-for the pay structure reward mix, and the basis of research performance versus seniority, groups versus individual and criteria used) (Lawler 1981). These are issues that determine decision of salary increment.            Increasing list of decisions has raised doubts about the efficacy of a strategic perspective. It brings to mind the multiple facts of job satisfaction that made the constraint more complex than originally conceived (Heneman, 1985), hence, t is necessary to differentiate decision which are strategic from those that are not.            Compensation decision making widely depends on the strategic policies as highlighted below;            Competitiveness, whose degrees vary among various organizations and among occupations within them, from a strategic perspective, competitiveness refers to positioning a firm’s compensation relative to its competitors (Belcher, et al, 1987). It deals with total return trade off decision.            Internal structure- the internal pay structure is a fundamental policy that requires strategic decisions. Typically it refers to the distribution of rates or internal pay differentials. (Simon, et al,1987.) Decisions involved depend on the issue of pay, equity and slope of the hierarchies.            Forms of pay- this is another policy that pertains the forms of the mix of various elements of total compensation (Heneman, et al, 1973). Decisions include the number of forms to offer, the degree to which each is contingent to employees maintaining their membership in the organization like entitlement, or performance like incentives, relative importance of each form and the proportion of the workforce eligible for each firm.            Basis for increase-decisions based on the strategic policies involved in granting pay increase are also involved; they range from an emphasis on short versus long term incentives (Caroll, et al, 1987).            Role in the human resource strategy- description of firm’s human resources strategies plays a very important role in decision making (Dyer, 1985).            Administrative style- this process is used to administer compensation decision, also referred to as strategic properties. It deals with issues such as employee participation, communication centralization and dispute resolutions mechanisms.            Compensation planning and administration has various challenges which require efficient decision making criteria. These compensation related decisions are formulated to do away with disputes that may result from pre hiring pay, ongoing employment, legal compliance, equal pay out and fair labor standards acts. Conclusion            From what we have seen in the scholarly articles, for one to improve business productivity, it is essential to have relevant compensation strategies to provide guidelines on personnel compensation. Many small businesses are characterized by inadequate and insufficient management of human resources which tend to affect employee’s perception of equity, resulting to dissatisfaction, inadequate motivation and lower productivity, hence, proper human resource management strategies are essential in building a well organized, formal, personnel department to ensure high productivity levels.            Compensation can also be achieved through proper recognition of personnel by considering different aspects as highlighted in the articles above. Recognition is essential as it fosters work environment and also encourages high performance through appraisal of morale among the staff.            In order to come up to a proper compensation plan, the human resource department needs to formulate clear policies and procedures to follow. These policies aid in decision making regarding various compensation incentives to personnel or employees. These decisions involve financial compensation which is in form of wages, salaries, bonuses and commissions, leaves, retirement plans and other employee services; non financial compensation decision on job positions and working environment related factors.            In short, it is essential for a good human resource management to have relevant policies which are essential in identifying when and how to compensate personnel properly. References Amba-Rao, S. C. &Pendse, D. (1985).Human Resource Compensation and Maintenance Practices. American Journal of Small Business, 10(2), 19-29. Belcher, D., &Atchinson, T. 1987.Compensation administration.Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Caroll S. (1987). Business strategies and Compensation Systems.In D.B Balkin&L.R. Gomez Mgia, New Perspectives in Compensation, Pp 343- 355, Prentice Hall. Dyer, L. (1985). Strategic human resource management and planning. InK. Rowland and G. Ferris (eds.), Research in Personnel and HumanResources Management, 3, pp. 1-30, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Freedman, S. (1978).Some Determinants of Compensation Decisions.Academy of ManagementJournal, 397-409. Heneman, H. G. (1985), Pay Satisfaction in K. M. Rowland & G. R. Ferns (eds), Research inPersonnel and Human Resource Management, vol 3, p 115-139. Lawler, E. E., III. 1981. Pay and organizational development. Reading, Mass.: Addison- Wesley. Tate, C. E., Jr., Megginson, L. C , Scott, C. R., Jr., &Tnieblood, L. R. (1985). Successful small business management. Piano, TX: Business Publications, Inc. Thompson, K. (2014). Honoring Employees is Good Business. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 94(2), 26. Source document

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