The human resource management, often abbreviated as HRM, refers to the term used to describe the formal systems that are being devised for people management within the organization. The core responsibilities of the human resource manager can be categorized into three major parts; that are staffing, designing or defining work and employee benefits or compensation. The purpose of the human resource manager, essentially, is to maximize the overall productivity of the organization though optimizing the employees’ effectiveness (Ashleigh, Higgs and Dulewicz 2012). However, the duties and responsibilities of the human resource manager often changes with the ever-increasing changes in today’s business world.
In this fast changing world, the large business organizations take several decisions of enhancing their strategic growth in order to become competitive. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the nature and characteristics of the human resource management and the line managers, its structure as well as cultural patterns and people management tools, procedures and strategies of Volkswagen Group. The Volkswagen is a part of Volkswagen Group of America, which is the largest automobile manufacturer. The company designs, manufactures and produces affordable cars for all consumer groups (Volkswagenag.com 2018). The report will highlight the case study of strategic human resource management required for coordinating and handling the issues related to the resources of Volkswagen Group.
The objectives of the human resource manager of the Volkswagen Group can be categorized into four segments; social objectives, organizational objectives, functional objectives and personal objectives. The social objectives include the firm to be responsible towards the societal needs and at the same time, it minimizes the wrong or negative impacts of such needs upon the company. The responsibilities of the line managers are also similar as their job responsibilities include hiring and recruiting fresh talent to fill in the team positions. The organizational objectives involve recognition of the role of human resource management in understanding the effectiveness or efficiency of the Volkswagen Group (Austin and Pinkleton 2015). Moreover, the functional objectives involve maintaining the overall department’s contribution at the level that is appropriate for the organizational needs and demands.
Last but not the least, the personal objectives help in assessing the employees personal goals and thus, enhancing the overall contribution to the Volkswagen Group. In addition to this, the environment of the business also plays an important role in the model of human resource management. Hence, it is beneficial and desirable to gain an understanding of the internal and external business environment and check how it influences the resource functions of the Volkswagen Group. The external forces of the Volkswagen Group which influences the nature and characteristics of the human resource management considerably include the political, legal, technological, cultural and technological factors (Volkswagenag.com 2018).
Apart than the external factors, there are internal factors as well, which hampers the nature and characteristics of the Volkswagen Group’s human resource management. These factors include employee unions, organizational conflicts and culture and lastly, the professional bodies. Unlike the external factors, the human resource manager of the Volkswagen can control the internal factors (Downs and Swailes 2013). The human resource management can be considered as the process of intense forecasting that is related to the Volkswagen Group’s future demands and supply for the right type of individuals at the right time.
The application of different types of Models and theories is quite important in the context of Human Resource Management Practices. The application of the different types of models and theories helps in the establishment and practice of different types of Human Resources accordingly. The Harvard Analytical Framework is one such theory that can be applied in the following case. When tracing the actual origin of the HRM and its theory, it becomes an elusive exercise to do so. The Harvard Business School formulated the following theory based on the Harvard Analytical Framework. The following theory is also attributed as the brainchild of the other present theories of HRM. Most of the later theories of HRM using some of the elements of modern HRM are implemented in these different theories. The Figure below will show the incorporation and the modern HRM framework formulated by the mentioned business school.
The top managers of Volkswagen Group have the ultimate responsibility to develop different kind of policies and the practices of Human Resource Management in their workplaces. According to, Bratton and Gold (2017) the company must have a vision and philosophy must be considered in the organization and the human component available with the management of the organization should also be considered as a strategic resource of the Company. The line managers of the organization have to accept extra responsibility for ensuring the alignment of the competitive strategy and adhere by the guidelines of the different policies that are formulated by the Human Resource Management. The management or in specific words the human resource management must take care of the mission and try to complete the objectives of the mission in a coherent and compact way.
On the other hand (Marchington 2015) have described that the theories are applied in this aspect typically involve the soft human resource management and the hard human resource management. The hard human resource management treats the employees as a resource of the overall business. It helps in building a strong corporate link on what the resources the organization needs and how much those will cost. It is important for the human resource manager to focus on the needs of the workforce as per the business guidelines and recruit or manage in accordance with that. The theory of soft human resource management typically states that the employees are the most important resource of the business and the source of competitive advantage (Downs and Swailes 2013). It is important for the Human Resource Management of the organization to have all the needs of the employees fulfilled as because such a task will surely ensure the improvement of the organizational performance and there will be also a personal organizational change in the business.
In addition to this, the theory X and theory Y in the human resource management have been coined by Douglas McGregor, who was a social psychologist of America. Both the theories are being used extensively in the motivation or management of the employees. However, theory X assumes management in the autocratic from and theory Y assumes democratic management within the organizations. On studying the case of Volkswagen Group, it can be said that the organizational leaders of the company prefers supervising their subordinates in order to increase their production level (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow 2016). They believe that the workers need to be motivated and encouraged in order to give their level best.
In modern day’s fast changing world, it is highly essential for the human resource managers of the Volkswagen Group to undertake people management strategies, procedures and tools for succeeding in times recession and turbulence. The human resource managers of the organization need to choose the correct style of managing the people of the Volkswagen Group. Over the decades, the company has adopted various strategic management operations, which have been prepared by the Volkswagen Group (Lamba and Choudhary 2013). The strategic decisions have played an important role in the long time welfare of the Volkswagen Company.
The long term and overall direction of the organization is being decided by its overall strategic planning. Moreover, the long term direction has also determined the culture and structure of the Volkswagen Group. If these factors of people management strategies are not taken into consideration, the company may not meet the designated goals as well as objectives. The CEO of the company has to understand the changing preferences as well as buying patterns of the individuals, in order to maximize the Volkswagen’s sales in its respective country’s markets (Schuler 2015). Therefore, for this particular reason, the human resource managers of the company require to plan for people management strategies. It is important for the management to have a clear idea about the soft and hard HRM practices in the following regards. According to, Marchington (2015) the hard HRM practices experiences the management treating the employees as simply the resources of business like the other assets. The following approach experiences a strong link with the corporate business planning of the company and identifies workforce needs of the business along with the recruitment and the management of the people accordingly. However Stone (2013)n has suggested that practicing such an approach can be harmful in the long run as because the management are more prone to change the number of employees in a short term and minimum communication is present from the upper to the lower ranks of the organization. On the other hand the soft HRM approach for the organization considers the employees to be the most important resource in the company and also a source of competitive advantage. Each and every individual are treated individually and the needs of each of them are answered accordingly. The Human Resource Department in the particular kind of approach ensures the presence of rewards; roles and motivation to the employees to enable them perform in a much better way. The management of Volkswagen must practice the Soft approach as because having a proper planning, treating the employees as the largest assets of the company, ensuring the empowerment of the employees is important for the success of the business. The more the company takes care of the employees, the more will the employees be inclined towards the organization and work productively.
Human Resource Accounting refers to the measurement of cost and value of the people working in Volkswagen. The management of the organization has to measure the cost that is required by the organization to recruit the employees, hire them and train them to meet the different requirements of the organization. The management will always have the aim to ensure the best productivity for the company and thus they assign a great value to the employees of the organization.
The management of Volkswagen can take appropriate example from the case of Ryan Air where the management of the airlines company failed to manage the staff problems which led to a massive damage to the HR system with an overall financial loss of around $30 million. Apart from this the organization also saw a dip of 3% in all of the shares it holds in the market. Thus it is necessary for the management of Volkswagen to ensure the presence of a strong and compact Human Resources.
According to Stone (2013), the human resource managers of the company has a major role in motivating and attracting the most talented employees, along with the necessary culture for coping up with the environment. It is important for the managers to hire skilled and knowledgeable employees, who have a clear understanding of the customers’ preferences and choices. None of the people managing strategies can be efficiently or effectively implement without the right employee. Therefore, it is highly important for the human resource managers of the Volkswagen Group to have all levels or functions to influence the employees’ interest.
The culture of the Volkswagen Group needs to be strong depending on the degree of the people management strategies, individual behavior and the changing behavior or attitude of the consumers. As per Van den Brink, Fruytier and Thunnissen (2013) opinion, it can be stated that the organizational structure can have a steep or flat hierarchy, where the major role of the human resource managers is to set the goals or objectives of the Volkswagen Group. The strategic decisions of the people management tools and procedures, should comprehend the major organizational values and objectives.
The latest patterns and models of the human resource management is involved in the management of the organization and keep a strong focus on the policies and procedures of the organization. The human resource managers of the organization have a clear idea of the different types of the latest models followed in the market by other companies. The management implements these policies in a packaged format including some new ones formulated by them which lead to the progress as well as growth of the company. Each and every organization or company needs to design some strategies and follow latest trends in order to meet the strategic objectives as well as maximize the employees’ performance (Boella and Goss-Turner 2013).
The human resource management trends and patterns are considered to be the one which is concerned with the organizational policies as well as systems. It is highly essential for the human resource management of the organization to operate appropriately and that too, in accordance with the latest technologies and trends in order to be able to deal with the challenges of the business environment (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow 2016). The current trends and patterns adopted by the human resource managers of the Volkswagen Group involve the procedure of selection and recruitment of the employees.
Moreover, it deals with providing induction and trainings to the new employees. Orientation and induction plays a major role in the overall training procedure for the organizational growth and progress. In addition to this, the company hires certified trainers and professional experts for conducting the orientation and induction programs. It enables the newly hired employees to gain an overview of the company’s mission and vision, goals as well as objectives. Furthermore, it also falls under the responsibility of the human resource manager to design the employee benefits as well as compensation programs, for motivating and encouraging the employees to perform better every day (Storey 2014).
Majority of the organizations have issues with their human resource management but manages to come up with some probable solutions. Berman et al. (2016) stated that low morale as well as poor engagement of the employees may often prove to be the signs of dissatisfaction in jobs. According to recent survey and analysis of the available data, it can be said that the employees are happy working with the Volkswagen Group; however, there are some issues in relation with the human resource management of the organization. The employees revealed that the compensation and benefits are not adequate enough as per their organizational working culture.
In this context, the employee satisfaction surveys are very much helpful in identifying the working conditions, which causes the employees to be less enthusiastic regarding their jobs. In order to be truly efficient as well as effective, the human resource staffs of the Volkswagen Group need to discuss about the results of the survey and analyze those. Along with the organizational leadership as well as management, it is important for the human resource manager of the Volkswagen Group to develop some action plans for the managers and the supervisors (Mitchell 2013). In addition to this, the action plans need to provide a road map in order to resolve those employment issues as well as follow up strategies and sustain improvements.
As per Fine’s (2012) opinion, it is immensely necessary for the human resource managers to incorporate attractive compensation and benefit packages. Moreover, flexible working schedules are not the only factors, which create a desirable and well defined workplace. The job seekers of any organization want to have an idea regarding the company’s direct and indirect benefits. Therefore, it is required to give them an understanding of the organizational direct and indirect benefits.
The human resource managers of the Volkswagen Group need to comply with the federal as well as state employment and labor laws. Flamholtz (2012) mentioned that this is immensely necessary for the employer to survive in any organization. Therefore, along with direct and indirect benefits, the human resource managers of the Volkswagen Group should give full attention to the critical nature of the compliance. The human resource managers are ultimately responsible for ensuring the obligations of the company regarding equal payments, safety at workplace, working hours, employee wages and employee compensation as well as benefits. Continuing professional development and education for the human resource staffs is a way, which can ensure that they have updated knowledge regarding the compliance issues of the organization.
Conclusion
To conclude, several companies need to operate with the strategies of the human resource technology, which needs to be revised every year. Moreover, the enterprise resource planning systems must be implemented in an effective, yet efficient manner. The boom in the human resource management application as well as the growth of technologies has changed the views of the organizations, in order to redefine the roles of human resource.
References
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Boella, M. and Goss-Turner, S., 2013. Human resource management in the automobile industry: A guide to best practice. Routledge.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
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Flamholtz, E.G., 2012. Human resource accounting: Advances in concepts, methods and applications. Springer Science & Business Media.
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Lamba, S. and Choudhary, N., 2013. Impact of HRM practices on organizational commitment of employees. International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, 2(4), pp.407-423.
Marchington, M., 2015. Human resource management (HRM): Too busy looking up to see where it is going longer term?. Human Resource Management Review, 25(2), pp.176-187.
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Stone, R.J., 2013. Managing human resources. John Wiley & Sons Australia.
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Van den Brink, M., Fruytier, B. and Thunnissen, M., 2013. Performance systems and HRM policies. Human Resource Management Journal, 23(2), pp.180-195.
Volkswagenag.com (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/group.html [Accessed 30 Apr. 2018].
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