Essay Examples - Management Essays
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: CURRENT AND FUTURE ISSUES AND A STRATEGIC SOLUTION
Success for the organisations of today and tomorrow is increasingly seen as dependent on effective HRM. - Sims (2002)
At the close of the last century, organisational theory expert Richard Daft (1998) wrote that challenges facing organisations on the eve of the twenty-first century are quite different from those of the 1970s and 1980s.
At the mid-point of the first decade of the new century, Daft's position has been confirmed. Organisations and the people - the human resources - who comprise them are facing unprecedented challenges. Developing and leveraging the alignment between organisations and their people in these turbulent times is the role of the human resource management function. The degree to which this function is effective is a major factor in the success of the organisation.
Beginning with identifying the challenges facing organisations in the twenty-first century as a foundation, the essay will continue by presenting challenges facing the human resource function in the new century and a key approach for meeting current and future human resource management challenges. The essay will demonstrate: (1) that challenges to the human resource management function reflect those of the overarching organisation and that the success of both are closely intertwined and (2) that a strategic approach to meeting challenges facing the human resource management function will help promote the success of the overarching organisation.
Challenges Facing Organisations in the Twenty-First Century
Rapid change is recognised as the most common challenge facing organisations today (Davis, 1995, cited in Daft, 1998). This rapid change emanates from factors such as strong global competition, requirements for organisational renewal, the need to develop strategic advantage, the management of new types of employee relationships, support for new levels of diversity, and the requirement for high levels of ethical behaviour and social responsibility (Daft, 1998).
The challenges of global competition are twofold: first, organisations face challenges from international competitors in their home countries while having to become competitive in global markets. There is increased international interdependence with goods and services, human resources, and capital being acquired, managed, and distributed globally. Organisations are being challenged to renew themselves constantly to remain viable. Organisations are flattening by eliminating mid-level managers, and team structures are being used to deal with issues. Developing and maintaining strategic advantage has always been an organisational mandate, but today that mandate presents increased challenges to not only find ways to produce the highest quality products at the least cost, but also to deliver those products to customers more quickly than can competitors. Concepts such as automation and reengineering are being increasingly applied to achieve strategic advantage. Employee relationships have changed, thereby presenting additional challenges. Employees may work at home or on the road rather than in offices. Managers often move horizontally rather than vertically during their careers. There are more freelancers and contractors being used by organisations. Workforce diversity presents another challenge as a greater number of employees come from different age groups, genders, races, national origins, and sexual orientations as well as with different physical abilities. Finally, organisations face challenges from public pressure to behave ethically and with greater social responsibility. (Daft, 1998) Dessler (2000, cited in Nicolaou and Stavrou-Costea, n.d.), in acknowledging that globalization has created challenges, calls attention of other factors including advances in technology and telecommunications, deregulation, diversity and other changes in the workforce, and trends in the nature of work and legal matters.
Gilley and Maycunich (2000) note that [o]rganisations are in a constant state of change. Preskill and Torres (1999, cited in Gilley and Maycunich, 2000) contend that what has become crystal clear is that the organisation will never again be stable and predictable, adding that [n]o longer do organisations offer one product of service for twenty more years with a homogeneous workforce that experiences little movement.
Vaile (1996 cited in Gilley and Maycunich, 2000) refers to this state of constant and continuing change as permanent white water. Williams (2002), in pointing to the massive numbers of mergers and acquisitions that have taken place in recent years, notes that [e]ach time a merger and acquisition occurred, one resource within the organisation was forgotten: the people.
Regarding predicting future organisational challenges, Nickerson (1992) cautions readers not to make projections for the future with absolute certainty. He writes: No one knows what the world will be like 50 or 100 years from now. He continues: Trying to project even 10, 20, or 30 years ahead is a fool's game, because there are so few ways to be right and so many ways to be wrong. Kay (1984, cited in Nickerson, 1992) warns against predicting the future by looking at past trends. Nickerson suggests that the only certainty is that the future will be as full of surprises as it has been in the past.
Challenges Facing the Human Resource Function in the Twenty-First Century
In some manner, each of the organisational challenges identified in the preceding section have human resource implications which can be derived from an analysis of the organisational challenges:
. Flexible, quick learners are needed to meet the challenges of rapid, usually unpredictable, change.
. Managers and employees who are comfortable with and competent in dealing with competition on a global basis are needed. Travel and relocation are being required more frequently.
. People who are able to work in teams and unstructured arrangements such as home-based offices and who are willing to participate in changing the organisation through reengineering and other initiatives are needed.
. People who are comfortable learning about and using automated systems and applying new ways of working are increasingly required.
. Non-traditional career paths are more common (e.g. horizontal versus vertical movement).
. Members of organisations who are comfortable with recruiting, selecting, training, and working with people from very diverse backgrounds are needed. Accompanying this is the need to develop and sustain new ways of attracting and retaining a talented, diverse workforce including innovative compensation approaches.
Schuler (2000, cited in Nicolaou and Stavrou-Costea, n.d.) suggests that the move from national isolation to globalization has resulted in the rapid appreciation for and development of all aspects associated with and affected by human resource management. Nicolaou and Stavrou-Costea (n.d.) contend that this situation has resulted in opportunities as well as challenges for organisations. Management of the human resource is now critical to the success of organisations large and small and in all industries (Dessler, 2000, cited in Nicolaou and Stavrow-Costea, n.d.). Challenges facing the human resource management function include training and development, efficiency and flexibility, and employee relations (Mahlemeyer and Clarke, 1997; Skinner, 1999; Gomez-Mejia et al., 2001, cited in Nicolaou and Stavrow-Costea, n.d.).
Peterson (1993) lists challenges facing the human resource management function in each of four areas - selection and recruiting, training, compensation, and labour relations. Many of the challenges Peterson describes, which are quoted below, echo those described above:
Selection and Recruiting
. more women in higher managerial positions;
. stronger international competition for high quality managers;
. higher mobility; and
. a recruitees' market due to aging population.
Training
. increasing importance of internal management development programs to attract and retain managers;
. cross-cultural training for international teamwork;
. information-technology; and
. retraining of older managers.
Compensation
. seniority of lesser importance;
. rising retirement age with resulting changes in pension arrangements;
. increased employee ownership plans;
. performance-based pay to include non-sales positions; and
. more flexibility in work hours.
Labour Relations
. looser-coupling in systems;
. increased foreign guest workers and immigrants;
. decreased job security;
. increasing influence of multinational organisations and international governing bodies; and
. decreasing influence of national governments.
Approaches to Meeting Current and Future Human Resource Management Challenges
The role of a human resource management function is to establish and execute policies, programs, and procedures that influence the performance, capabilities, and loyalty of the employees of an organisation, according to Clardy (1996). He continues by claiming that [t]hrough these policies and procedures, individuals are attracted, retained, motivated, and developed to perform the work of the organisation. The human resources function is of significant importance in the post-industrial world (Bell, 1972; Schneider and Bowen, 1993, cited in Clardy, 1996).
Facing the challenges of today and tomorrow requires that organisations approach the human resource management function much differently than in the past. Historically, the human resource management organisation performed routine, administrative duties associated with selection and recruiting, training, compensation, and labour relations. The challenges now facing organisations mandate that this passive approach is no longer adequate. Today, the human resource management organisation must be more proactive; that is, it must integrate itself into the rest of the organisation, strategically. Gilley and Maycunich (1998, cited in Gilley and Maycunich, 2000) write:
[C]reating strategic business partnerships [between human resource management organisations and their overarching organisations] produces economic utility, which is measured in terms of increased organisational performance, profitability, revenue, quality, or efficiency.
Importantly, this strategic alliance, so necessary to organisational success in meeting the known challenges of today and the unknown challenges of tomorrow, permits the human resource management function to work in harmony to improve the organisation's economic viability. For success, human resource management functions must integrate tightly with each other and with the overarching organisational strategy. To meet today's and tomorrow challenges, members of the human resource management organisation must know about, have influence over, and be closely connected with people in other parts of the organisation. (Gilley and Maycunich, 2000)
Back to: Example Essays...
In conclusion, according to Mohrman and Lawler (1997, cited in Gilley and Maycunich, 2000) to be effective now and in the future, the human resource management organisation must be a sophisticated business partner capable of thinking systematically and addressing business issues, adding that these organisations must be able to work cross-functionally within a number of leadership teams responsible for planning and managing the complex issues of rapid change.
References
Bell, D. (1972) The coming of post industrial society. New York: Basic Books, 1972. Cited in Clardy, 1996.
Clardy, Alan B. (1996) Managing human resources: Exercises, experiments, and applications workbook. Mahway, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996.
Daft, Richard L. (1998) Organisation theory and design. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Publishing, 1998.
Davis, Eileen (1995) What's on American managers' minds? Management Review. April 1995. Cited in Daft, 1998.
Dessler, G. (2000), Human resource management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. Cited in Nicolaou and Stavrou-Costea, n.d.
Gilley, J. W. and Maycunich, A. (1998). Strategically integrated HRD :Partnering to maximise organisational performance. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus Books. Cited in Gilley and Maycunich, 2000.
Gilley, Jerry and Maycunich, Ann (2000) Organisational learning, performance, and change: An introduction to strategic human resource development. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus Books, 2000.
Gomez-Mejia, L.R. et al. (2001) Managing Human Resources. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Cited in Nicolaou and Stavrou-Costea, n.d.
Kay A. C. (1984) Inventing the future. In P. H. Winston and K. A. Prendergast, eds., The AI business. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Cited in Nickerson, 1992.
Mohrman, S. A. and Lawler III, E. E. ( 1997) Transforming the human resource function. In D. Ulrich, M. R. Losey, and G. Lake, eds., Tomorrow's HR Management: 48 Thought Leaders Call for Change. New York: Wiley & Sons, 1997. Cited in Gilley and Maycunich, 2000.
Mahlemeyer, P. and Clarke, M. (1997) The competitive factor: training and development as a strategic management task. Journal of Workplace Learning, 1999. Cited in Nicolaou and Stavrou-Costea, n.d.
Nickerson, Raymond (1992) Looking ahead: Human factors challenges in a changing world. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992.
Nicolaou, Nicoleta and Stavrou-Costea, Eleni (n.d.) Human resource management challenges towards organisational effectiveness within an international context: A comparative study in southern Europe. Cyprus: University of Cyprus, Department of Public and Business Administration, n.d.
Peterson, Richard B. (1993) Managers and national culture: A global perspective. Westport, Connecticut: Quorum Books, 1993.
Preskill, H., and R. T. Torres ( 1999) Evaluative Inquiry for Learning in Organisations. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 1999. Cited in Gilley and Maycunich, 2000.
Schneider, B. and Bowen, D. E. (1993) The service organisation: Human resources management is critical. Organisation Dynamics, 21( 4), 1993. Cited in Clardy, 1996.
Schuler, R. (2000) The internationalization of human resource management. Journal of International Management, 2000. Cited in Nicolaou and Stavrou-Costea, n.d.
Sims, Ronald R. (2002) Organisational success through effective human resources management. Westport, Connecticut: Quorum Books, 2002.
Skinner D. (1999) The reality of equal opportunities: The expectations and experiences of part-time staff and their managers. Personnel Review, 1999. Cited in Nicolaou and Stavrou-Costea, n.d.
Vaile, P. (1996) Learning as a Way of Being. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996. Cited in Gilley and Maycunich, 2000.
Williams, Lloyd C. (2002) Creating the congruent workplace: Challenges for people and their organisations. Westport, Connecticut: Quorum Books, 2002.
More Free Management Essays...
Get free management essays from our extensive online resource library. Hundreds of example essays available from all the major essay topics to help you with your research...
