Question:
What are the some of the current challenges facing Organisations in New Zealand today? How can a strategic approach to Human Resources Management HRM and Industrial Relations (IR) aid organisations to gain Competitive advantage?
The essay is based on the analysis of the different challenges that are faced by the organizations in New Zealand in the recent years. The country is facing many issues since the year 2014. These issues include the economic issues, issues related war and terrorism and many more. The most prevalent economic issues in the country are related to poverty and the gap that exists between the poor and the rich people of the society. There are many other issues that are faced by the people of New Zealand which includes the problems arising due recession, the spending of the government (Zorn, Grant & Henderson, 2013). The shortage of housing facilities for the citizens of the country and the increasing debts are other important issues in New Zealand at the moment. Global warming, absence of values and empathy in the citizens of the country have proved to be the major problems in the country.
New Zealand is facing high rates of unemployment in the current situation, which is one of the major problems that are faced by the organizations and the people of New Zealand as well. The main problem is that there are many number of jobs available in the country, however the organizations are unable to afford the employees with their present resources. The poverty levels in the country have also increased in the recent years. The job market in New Zealand is mainly dominated by the small sized and medium sized organizations. Around 60% of the total employment opportunities that are available in New Zealand are provided by the small and medium sized organizations (Albrecht et al., 2015). The supply of funds in New Zealand had shown an increase till the year 2008, however this supply has declined after 2008 and has become stable in the recent times. The supply of money in the country impacts the capability of the organizations to pay the salaries and wages to the employees. The debt of New Zealand is increasing steadily over the years after 2006. This has affected the ability of the people to meet their basic needs including food and housing. The debt has increased by 38% in the years between 2009 and 2011 (Alfes et al., 2013). The credit rating has also decreased in the recent years and this has compelled the country apply for loans at interest rates that are much higher than the normal times. New Zealand is heavily dependent on the other countries for its needs of oil and the crisis in this import facility poses a threat towards meeting the basic needs of the people.
The managers of the organizations in New Zealand face many problems related to the lack of funding and the inability to meet the needs of the employees in the organization. Another big challenge faced by the organizations in New Zealand is the diversity factor. The main challenge towards inclusion and diversity in the organizations in New Zealand is the problem of bias. About 48% of the organizations in New Zealand identify bias as their main concern towards diversity (Gelens et al., 2014). The primary concern of the management of the organizations is the unconscious bias towards the employees. This hampers the process of inclusion and diversity in the organization. Organizations in the public sector are more affected by the bias problem. The gap in the payment of the employees based on their gender is another problem that arises due to the problem of bias. The other issues that impact the diversity in the organization are the wellness and wellbeing of the employees. The issue related to the diversity in the private sector organizations is the flexibility. The increasing age of the workforce of the organizations affects the operations of the company (Zorn, Grant & Henderson, 2013).
The issue of aging workforce in the organizations in New Zealand have increased in the recent years. The workers with the age above 65 years are increasing rapidly. 23.3% of the total population of New Zealand is under the aging category. The regional variations between the employees is also high and the people in some regions are found to ageing faster as compared to the other regions. The population of New Zealand has been found to be ageing swiftly and they tend to stay in the organizations due to the lack of options or necessity. This has posed a challenge on the organizations and they do not have any particular policies that can address this problem (Kulik et al., 2014). This has reduced the flexibility in the organization and strategies need to be developed by the organization to address this issue. The organizations need to engage with the employees and the work process to improve the productivity.
Human resource management or HRM is related to the functions of both private and public sector organizations, which is related to the recruitment, selection and training of the new employees. Many responsibilities are related to the HRM of an organization as discussed further. The staffing function is performed to ensure that the right amount people with adequate skills are employed in the recruitment process. The development of the employees to increase their productivity and effectiveness is another major function of the HRM department (Henderson, Cheney & Weaver, 2015). The amount of compensation that is to be provided to the new employees according to the skills and the knowledge that they possess is decided by the HRM department of the organization. The issues related to the health and safety of the organizations is the responsibility of the HRM department. In the changing business environment, the HRM department has to play some new roles as well. These roles include the strategic decision making of the organizations and the HRM measurements that are used to measure the value of the employees (Jackson, Schuler & Jiang, 2014).
On the other hand, industrial relations have posed as a complex issue for the organizations. The industrial relations refer to the relation the employers have with the workforce of the organization. The relationship of the employees with the management is defined by the term industrial relations. The industrial relations within an organization are managed by the HR Employee Relations Manager of the company (Jackson, Schuler & Jiang, 2014). The policies and procedures of the company required to maintain the relations with the employees are designed by the HR Employee Relations Manager. The disputes that arise in the organizations related to the employees are also managed by the Employee Relations manager (Kehoe & Wright, 2013). The healthy industrial relations within an organization contributes in the success of the organization. The different aspects of the organization that are affected by the industrial relations are uninterrupted production which is the main function of an organization. The healthy relationships within an organization impacts the production of the company. The disputes related to the industry are also reduced with the help of healthy relations with the employees. The morale of the employees working in the organization remains high if the relation with the employees is good (Kim et al., 2014). This factor will help in increasing productivity and thereby motivating the employees. The mental orientation of the employees towards the organization is another factor that impacts the productivity and this is ensured by the good industrial relations. The wastage of the materials, workforce and machines is reduced and the productivity is increased with the help of the industrial relations with the employees (Sawitri & Muis, 2014).
The industrial relations within the organization and the functions of the human resource department are linked with each other in many ways. The functions of the industrial relations are to defend the labour interest and thereby the interest of the management (Marler & Fisher, 2013). The role of the HRM department is also to ensure the interest of the labour and the management. However, the most important function of the HRM department is related to the recruitment and the selection process of the employees and training them as per the requirements of the organizations. On the other hand, industrial relation does not play any role in the process of recruitment and selection. The recruitment and selection process of the organization is not related in any way with the industrial relation. It can therefore be said that the role of the industrial relations comes into play after the HRM function (Mitchell, Obeidat & Bray, 2013).
The main problems that are recognized in the management of the organizations of New Zealand are mainly the lack of diversity in the organizations, lack of enough funds to pay the salaries and payment gap due to gender bias. The HRM department and the industrial relations department of the organizations can play an important role in solving these issues. The HRM department of the organizations have an important role in the strategic management. The strategies need to be formed so that the gender bias can be reduced and the organizations become more diverse. The lack of funds has occurred due to the fall in the economy of New Zealand. This problem can be solved by maintaining good industrial relations with the employees and motivate them to be more productive so that the revenues increase and lack of funds can be reduced.
Conclusion
The essay can be concluded with the learning that the organizations in New Zealand are facing many problems related to the downfall in the economy and the problems in the workforce. The problems that are arising in the organizations can be solved with the help of the HRM department and the Industrial relations of the organizations. Both of these aspects are related to the relation of the employees and the management. The role of HRM however is much more broad as compared to that of the Industrial relations of an organization.
References
Albrecht, S. L., Bakker, A. B., Gruman, J. A., Macey, W. H., & Saks, A. M. (2015). Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), 7-35.
Alfes, K., Shantz, A. D., Truss, C., & Soane, E. C. (2013). The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation model. The international journal of human resource management, 24(2), 330-351.
Gelens, J., Hofmans, J., Dries, N., & Pepermans, R. (2014). Talent management and organisational justice: employee reactions to high potential identification. Human Resource Management Journal, 24(2), 159-175.
Henderson, A., Cheney, G., & Weaver, C. K. (2015). The role of employee identification and organizational identity in strategic communication and organizational issues management about genetic modification. International Journal of Business Communication, 52(1), 12-41.
Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Jiang, K. (2014). An aspirational framework for strategic human resource management. Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 1-56.
Kehoe, R. R., & Wright, P. M. (2013). The impact of high-performance human resource practices on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Journal of management, 39(2), 366-391.
Kim, T. H., Lee, J. N., Chun, J. U., & Benbasat, I. (2014). Understanding the effect of knowledge management strategies on knowledge management performance: A contingency perspective. Information & management, 51(4), 398-416.
Kulik, C. T., Ryan, S., Harper, S., & George, G. (2014). Aging populations and management. Academy of Management Journal, 57(4), 929-935.
Marler, J. H., & Fisher, S. L. (2013). An evidence-based review of e-HRM and strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 23(1), 18-36.
Mitchell, R., Obeidat, S., & Bray, M. (2013). The Effect of Strategic Human Resource Management on Organizational Performance: The Mediating Role of High?Performance Human Resource Practices. Human Resource Management, 52(6), 899-921.
Sawitri, D., & Muis, M. (2014). Human resource management: A strategic theoretical perspective. International Journal of Organizational Innovation (Online), 6(3), 6.
Zorn, T. E., Grant, S., & Henderson, A. (2013). Strengthening resource mobilization chains: Developing the social media competencies of community and voluntary organizations in New Zealand. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 24(3), 666-687.
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