| Raises or Rebuilding? -A business owner’s dilemma |

Summary | Small businesses are in their upward growth phases and employees who have recently gone without increments are hopeful it will occur soon. Relatively, some business may not be able to offer the much-anticipated raises due to some constraints in order to achieve optimal growth. Management may require to strengthen their teams with more qualified and experienced personnel, apply modern technology to drive performance turnaround and employ aggressive promotion travel to grow their clientele. Management is at times caught in between hiring new professionals and awarding bonuses. Staff members may be agitated if funds are redirected to other projects other than to their salary increments. In addition, it is recommended that management should explain clearly to their subordinates the intended purpose of funds if they will not avail increments.Employees are more likely to understand their manager’s intentions to generate more revenue for raises to be awarded. In addition, it is equally important for bosses to consider staff a priority and explain the intentions that may lead to cutting down salaries to meet unavoidable expenses. Although, employees may not be pleased with management’s action they would understand it was a rational decision. | What human resource trends are behind the situation faced by Jill McBride? | Various Human Resource Management (HRM) trends have emerged over the years in a bid to support growth of companies. McBride emphasizes the need to have a motivated work force. Motivating workers has increasingly become a trend adopted by many HR firms and traditionally this was not the case. Lack of a well-inspired team may lead to poor productivity and inefficiency in output. By motivating staff through incentives such as bonuses and raises, employees feel more appreciated rather