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HRM: Assignment 2
What are the various challenges faced by HR managers in managing employees in today’s industrial Organization?
Factors affecting the role of HRM
Globalization
Greengard (1995) defined globalization as the system of interaction among the countries of the world in order to develop the global economy. Globalization refers to the amalgamation of economics and societies around the world which means that world trade and financial markets are becoming more integrated. Growing internationalization of business has its impact on HRM in terms of problems of unfamiliar laws, languages, practices, competitions, attitudes, management styles, work ethics etc (Srivastava & Agarwal). Globalization has an effect on employment patterns worldwide. It has contributed to a great deal of outsourcing which is one of the greatest organizational and industry structure shifts that change the way business operates (Drucker, 1998). Globalization is also seen as changing organizational structures where expenses can move up or down as the business climate dictates (Garr, 2001). As a result HR managers have to confront with more heterogeneous functions and more involvement in employee's personal life.
Technological advances
Technological advances have a significant impact on HR business practices. Due to the advancements in the technology there has been a drastic change in the approach to the various projects and the scenarios that guide to the organizational regulations.
Firstly, the need of skilled personals is mentionable. In order to survive in a competitive environment the organization definitely in need of the skilled personals in substantial number to handle the situations and technical equipments. In an organization there are "hot" sectors which require a high of technical experts like telecommunications, hospitality, retailing, banking, insurance, bio-technology etc. Next head which is worth mentioning is the downsizing. New technologies have decimated many lower-end jobs with frustrating regularity. The increased automation also has reduced the employee head counts everywhere. The pressure
of remaining cost-effective in every aspect has also compelled many a firm to go lean, and thereby cutting down extra fat at each and every managerial level (Anurag, 2011). Managing the expectations of knowledge workers is also going to be a major area of concern for all HR managers in the years ahead.
Other aspect is telecommuting where the employees started to work remotely from a place other than their primary office. Telecommuting became a popular alternative to avoid the daily commute where the employees use phones and internet to transmit their office works.
This has been a powerful cost effective tool in the sense that companies have been successful in increasing their applicant pool through this mode and staffs also may live far away from cities and gain considerably due to savings in rents, transportation, etc.
The biggest issue due to technological advancement is adaptability, with companies looking at tools which can integrate with the internet, while other issues of concern include data privacy, security and business continuity/disaster recovery.
Workforce Diversity
Diversity by definition for the business world means having a workforce that represents many different viewpoints, backgrounds and cultures. Diversity affects all areas of organizations from recruitment to compensation, to the affect it has on the corporate culture, morale and competitiveness. Diversity in the workplace is an increasingly topical theme in management. Diversity within HRM, termed as workforce diversity, is a multifaceted phenomenon that can be defined as any visible or invisible difference between organisational members. Diversity can be labelled into two distinct aspects: observable differences (e.g. nationality, age) and underlying differences (e.g. values, sexual orientation). Workforce diversity becomes a particular issue in HRM as it has legal, moral and business implications for an organization.
There are a number of ways in which people respond to diversity. Behavioural and emotional reactions to diversity are explained largely by three theories: the similarity attraction paradigm, social identity theory and social categorisation theory (Pearson, 1995). Workplace diversity has its positive effects (e.g. innovation, flexibility) as well as negative effects (e.g. high turnover, decreased job
running costs.
Ethics
While considering the challenges of human resources there is a need to discuss about ethics. The discussion about ethics happened during mid 2000s when several companies were found to have engaged in gross unethical and illegal conduct, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars from shareholders. Companies are seeing the value of implementing ethics codes within the business. Many human resource departments have the responsibility of designing codes of ethics and developing policies for ethical decision making. According to Steve Miranda, chief human resources officer for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), "[the presence of an ethics officer] provides a high-level individual with positional authority who can ensure that policies, practices, and guidelines are effectively communicated across the organization"( McGraw, 2011). Developing policies, monitoring behaviour, and informing people of ethics are necessary to ensure a fair and legal business.
In the present era most of the organizations are competing globally for their best reputation, by keeping in view the above issues and challenges the HR mangers are responsible to train all the young workers, to provide them best rewards as a result they will show their commitment and loyalty.
- Technology has changed each and everything with great extent, the methods of production, the process of recruitment, the training techniques, new equipment and technology should be introduced and purchase by the organization and training should be provided to young and educated workers.
- To cope up with the issue of Globalization HR manager should adopt the concept of Globalize Human Resource Management (GHRM) where it prepares the skill people or manager worldwide. This way the trend of globalization can be minimized with some extent.
- Human resource manager should develop such a HR system which consistent with other organization elements such as organization strategies, goals and organization style, and organization planning.
- Regarding the debate on work force diversity, the HR manager accountable to
make such a broad strategies which help to adjust employees in global organization, HR must increase the ability to compete in the international market.
- Organization culture is also another important element which must be consider by the HR manager, the culture must be like to shape their behavior and beliefs to observe to what is imperative.
- To provide more and more talent people into the organization the HR manager must re-decide and re-arrange the staffing functions, for recruitment selection, training and transfer, promotion, dismissals, placement, demotion and layoffs of the employees separate strategies should be developed and implemented.
