The assignment is a study of human resource practices set against the backdrop of Flat Metal Pressings, a metal pressing manufacturing company located in West Midlands. The study revolves around the human resource management of employees. The paper is divided into six sections. The first section explores the concept of HRM and its importance to a company. The second section studies the importance of HR planning and relates it to Flat Metal Pressings. The third section explores the role played by training and development functions in enhancing organisational performances. The forth section elaborately studies the process of change management and points out how Flat Metal Pressing can apply it. The fifth section delves into employment legislations and laws. The final section throws light on how organisations can take advantage of globalisation and achieve sustainability through it.
Human resource management refers to the procedure to formally acquire human resource in three areas staffing, human resource compensation and defining the areas of the responsibilities of employees (Sheehan 2014). HRM according to Armstrong and Taylor (2014) means strategically managing the most important resource of the organisations to contribute to the achievement of the business targets.
Human resource management is of great importance to the organisations because it is directly related to their competitive advantages (Sheehan, 2014). The following section discusses the importance of HRM to the business strategies and overall business objectives:
One of the main responsibilities HRM is recruitment and training of appropriate employees. The HR managers design criteria for recruitment to acquire deserving candidates who can fit with the overall business environment of the organisation. They define the eligibility criteria pertaining to job experiences, educational qualification and other competencies expected from candidates who wish to apply for various positions. Thus, the human resource management recruits appropriate candidates who contribute to the business growth of the company (Brewster et al. 2016).
The human resource department conducts performance appraisal of the employees according to their performances and efficiencies. This function motivates the employees to perform better which ultimately elevates the performance of the company. HRM keeps a check on the performances of the employees and help the employees to judge their performances. This function helps the employees and their managers to remain focused about attainment of targets. Performance appraisal results in promotion of deserving employees which adds to organisational excellence (Kramar 2014).
The human resource management initiatives by the HRD in the organisations recruit employees who would be able to function under the prevailing organisational culture. They help the management and the departments in allocating the job responsibilities among the appropriate staffs. This results in efficient execution of the target jobs which ultimately translation into the business development of the organisations. The human resource departments recruit appropriate human resources who adapt to the working conditions. This reduces scope for conflict among the managers and the subordinates (Redpath et al. 2013).
Efficient acquisition and maintenance of human resources:
The human resource planning results in adequate supply of human resources to meet the business requirements of the company. The human resource department plans to allocate the existing manpower to the strategic areas. HR planning results in assignment of right job to the right people which maximises job satisfaction of the employees. The human resource management today emphasizes on acquiring staffs who would operate in sustainable ways. Thus, it plays a very important role in sustainable human resource acquisition which contributes to the sustainable measures taken by the apex management. It measures employee performances and promotes eligible employees to higher positions. The promoted employees can make better use of their knowledge and competencies gained from their previous designations. Thus, performance appraisal by the HRD contributes to job satisfaction. This results in retention of employees and reduces employee turnover (Brewster et al. 2016). The human resource department of Flat Metal Pressings does not plan the recruitment efficiently. The HR department did not plan to recruit any senior manager capable of handling the administrative operations. The HR department did not plan to fill the vacancies in the technical department where most of the senior employees were heading towards retirement. The human resource department of Flat Metal Pressings should have initiated the process of recruitment to acquire new employees to fill the future vacancies. The HR department of the company should train the present employees to improve their efficiencies (Goetsch and Davis 2014).
The human resource department forecasts the future staff requirements to ensure that the company functions smoothly. The human resource managers assess the future business requirements in strategic manner in association with the departmental heads to assess their future work pressures like in the peak season. The HR department studies the present staff strength against the future business demands to find out the gap. Then it plans to recruit to fill up the gap to ensure that the company functions smoothly in future (Goetsch and Davis 2014). This action is helpful in ensuring smooth operations and employee high performance.
The HR department should assess the skills and competencies of the present employees. Then it should plan to recruit staffs to ensure smooth running of the important departments like the technical departments. More than half of the experts in the department are about to retire which would create vacancies in the department. The HR department should recruit new employees of technical competencies to fill the vacancy to ensure smooth functioning of the department (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang 2014).
Training and development initiatives can help the employees to improve their performances and contribute towards the performance growth of the company as a whole. The two contributions of training and development strategies and initiatives are evaluated as follows:
Human resource department conducts training and development of the existing employees to develop their skills and competencies. Frey and Osborne (2017) state in their work evaluate the importance of HR in educating the employees on the new technology. Introduction of technology has revolutionised the operations of all the companies. The HR takes initiatives to train the employees to use cloud computing and machine driven production processes. Morgan (2013) states that training and development help the employees to adapt to the numerous technological challenges like change in technology. The efficient HR departments contribute towards better retention of employees and help to reduce employee turnover, thus saving expenditure the company bears to conduct frequent recruitment programmes. It helps them to deal with future challenges like new competitors with more innovative power. Thus, the HR department conducts training and development help employees to improve their performances and deal with future challenges.
Well structured training and development programmes by the human resource departments encourage innovation in the operations in the departments. The employees are able to gain knowledge and expertise of the new developments in the industry (Johnston and Marshall 2016). They are able to upgrade their job processes to adapt to the new technology. Elnaga and Imran (2013) state that well devised training and development programmes help in building new skills in the employees based on future business scenario. They also add that well trained employees are able to cope with uncertain conditions and perform better. This brings in consistency in their performances of the employees which contributes to the competitive advantage of the company (Sparrow, Brewster and Chung 2016). Thus the human resource departments contribute towards business aligned human resource allocation and conflict management which contributes to the growth of the company.
The following are the processes of change management taking into account the global economic downturn:
The management of the organisations must use assessment tools to assess the readiness to change. The management should take into account the past records of assessments, organisational culture and the sponsors of the changes. The team must take into account the challenges and opportunities the change can bring about upon the organisation. The management must take into account the impact of the change on the people and consider whether the change is gradual or sudden (Morgan 2013).
The management must communicate the need to change the company strategy like cutting of company expenses and adopting of international languages for communication in a larger way (Yamao and Sekiguchi 2015). The staff must be communicated the essence of the change and how it be brought about. The global economic downturn has necessitated the banks to give less credit to the business organisations (Hutton 2017). The organisations need to make new strategies like decrease in the wastes in order to cut down waste management expenses. The staffs need to be communicated the strategy and need for the implementation of them. This will decrease the fear and feeling of insecurity among them.
The management should provide training to the staff so that they are able to operate under the changed conditions. The training can mean working using more advanced technology to achieve cost cutting. The economic downturn in the global market has required the companies to reduce their expenses. Flat Metal Pressing can change its method of production to a more advanced technology based method to reduce the expenditure for employing too many manual labours. The economic downturn has made the business environment unpredictable which demands the organisations to adapt their business operations accordingly. Training can provide the employees the necessary skills to adapt their methods of operations to adjust to the macroeconomic inflation. Training will also help the employees to cope up with the stress and uncertainty related to the change (Daniel 2015).
Lewin’s Change Management Model was coined by Kurt Lewin to streamline change management in the organisations. Flat Metal Pressing can use this model to bring about organisational change successfully using the model. The model stands on the following three pillars:
The unfreeze stage is about preparing the organisations and the employee to embrace changes to adapt to the economic downturn. The management takes the charge of initiating the process of the change by disrupting the present modus operandi. They also need to communicate the necessity to change. For example, the global slowdown can necessitate the organisation to change in business model. This need can require the company to increase use of technology in production processes which may render some manual labour redundant. The management of Flash Metal Pressing needs to speak to the employees regarding the need to shift towards technology intensive methods of production. Boons and Lüdeke-Freund (2013) in fact lay stress on unfreezing and innovation in order to bring about organisational change. They say that organisation should shift to sustainable innovation to operate to adapt to the economic slump and save resources.
The next step is to create the actual change happen by making people understand its need. The management of Flat Metal Pressing needs to allow the employees to understand the outcome of the change and adopt it(Cummings, Bridgman and Brown 2016). Strong communication with the organisation and understanding between the management and employee can help to bring the change more easily. This will make the employees connect to the organisation and embrace changes faster. Cullen et al. 2014 in their writings state that smooth communication impacts the employee perceptions and insecurities about changes. It helps employees to adapt and embrace changes more easily. Thus, communication and healthy organisational are important drivers of this change building step.
The organisations at this stage adopt the changes and make it a part of their regular operations. It becomes a part of the organisation culture and employees feel comfortable in new methods of working. For example, the employees adopt sustainable technology to produce goods.
The employers and their human departments need to incorporate the employment legislation while framing policies. The governments of all the countries and the international organisations like the ILO form policies and laws which have to be followed by all organisations while employing labour. The legislations cover areas of employment, health and safety, human rights, compensations and privacy legislations. The employers should frame the policies by abiding the laws. For example, the employers in Britain have a pay minimum hourly wages of £7.50 to employees above aged twenty five and above. The direction also require the employers who have paid less than NMW to compensate their employees. The government also warns to take legal actions against defaulting employers. Thus companies have incorporate legislations in their HR policies by following the law (Gov.uk 2017). The companies can carry out labour market analysis to gain information on the important legislations like the Equality Act 2010 which condemns workplace discriminations. They are supposed to abide by laws pertaining to exploitation of employees, practice of discrimination and other unethical practices. The organisations can form organisational culture and employee policies according to these legislations (Legislation.gov.uk 2017).
The companies need to consider the legislations pertaining to sustainability and corporate social responsibility. They need to allocate their human resources according to these laws so as to operate in sustainable ways. The companies follow these laws strictly while operating because breach of these laws by the employees attracts legal actions against them. For example, the recent economic downturn demands the organisations to cut down their expenses and save resources. Many companies in response to this cost cutting need have switched over to sustainable technology intensive operations and recycling of wastes to generate energy. They manage their human resources in sustainable ways to confirm to the sustenance and environmental laws. They take initiatives to act in energy efficient ways like installing waste management plants and windmills. This helps them to save energy costs and use the raw materials to the fullest by recycling them. These methods save costs and demands increase in the use of technology which may render few labourers unemployed. This change in situation will lead to fear and insecurity among the employees. The management need to communicate the need to bring about the change to the employees who will help them to realise the reality and embrace the change.
The organisations can the advantage of globalisation and contribute positively towards sustenance and development in the following ways:
The organisations can sell their products to an international consumer base to earn huge profits. The consumers today prefer environment friendly and sustainable goods made from eco-friendly raw materials. This requires the organisations to opt for sustainable technology which attracts huge investment. The companies can take the advantage of globalisation, sell their goods to a huge consumer base and earn huge profit. They can then channelize the profit to develop sustainable technology to produce goods. Thus, globalisation provides the companies a huge revenue base which helps them to acquire sustainable and high market performance.
Environment friendly goods are more expensive than their synthetic counterparts. They also require huge initial investment from the companies into material, manpower and technology. Globalisation provides the organisations with a huge consumer base which has the financial capability to buy these goods. Therefore, the companies producing sustainable goods are able to get high return on investments. This high return can be used to bring about organisational developments like innovation in production process, business expansion and restructuring of employment structure to deal with market challenges (Liew, Hassim and Ng 2014). These in turn result in achievement of competitive advantage and leading position in the global market
Globalisation has helped the companies to source materials using intricate supply chain management. This helps them to acquire materials from the market at economic prices which help to attain economies of scale. This helps them to bring down their cost production and increase their profit. They can then use this profit to bring high level of organisational performance by using more sustainable technology, managing wastes and using it to produce energy for their own consumption (Malhotra, Melville and Watson 2013).
Conclusion/Recommendations:
The detailed study reveals that human resource management plays a great role in achieving organisational excellence. The HR department of Flat Metal Pressing has a to play a great role in managing the organisational change which has become important for the sustenance of the company.
The following are the recommendations for the human resource department of Flat Metal Pressing to deal with the change:
References:
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Boons, F. and Lüdeke-Freund, F., 2013. Business models for sustainable innovation: state-of-the-art and steps towards a research agenda. Journal of Cleaner Production, 45, pp.9-19.
Brewster, C., Houldsworth, E., Sparrow, P. and Vernon, G., 2016. International human resource management. Kogan Page Publishers.
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