Discuss about the Changing Face of HRM.
Human Resource Management or precisely known has HRM is a subject to a number of debates pertaining to its importance and relevance in an organization. However with the changes taking places in the organization, the functions of the human resource department in any organization has been overwhelmingly increasing. It has increased to such an extent that it is nearly impossible now to conceive an organization without the Human Resource Department.
The aim of the essay is to bring out the growing relevance of HRM in any industry and how the changing nature of the society has a direct impact on the practices of the HR people in an organization. (Guest, 2011).We would also try and analyse the various changes taking place in the social, political, cultural and economic aspect across the globe. These changes in turn are giving rise to a number of challenges that the organizations have to face in order to stay in business. This means that the issues arising in any organization is primarily dealt with the help of Human Resource Department (Farndale, Scullion and Sparrow, 2010). Thus thismakestheir role in any organization is inevitable. The changing trends and challenges that are usually being faced by the HR people in an organization which will be discussed are mainly:
In the due course we will bring out how each challenge is having a direct impact on the HR planning of an organization, leading to transformation in rules and policies of the same (Dessler, 2013).
Before going on elaborating on the changing nature of HRM in any industry, we first need to have a clear conception of the term ‘HRM’ which we would often be referring to in the essay. HRM is a coherent and strategic approach to management of an organizations most values assets – the people working there, either individually or collectively who contribute to the achievement of objectives that the organization aims for (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). Summing it up, Human Resource Management is to MINDE i.e. managed, inspire, nurture, develop and engage. HRM has an all-embracing function dealing with all the aspect of an organization. Thus if any changes of any nature take place in any organization, the direct impact would be on none other than the HR people as going by their functions form the backbone of the industries today. (Armstrong and Taylor, 2011).The HR are sought to be all-rounders, having an idea about the function of all the departments of the company. They ensure that the individual along with their own growth, work for the bigger aim to attain the objectives of the company.(Nickson, 2013).
One thing that should be clearly kept in mind is that the organizations are affected internally by changes taking place for e.g. changes in policies and regulations, trade union factor, culture and conflict of the organization and professional bodies present in the organization. (Tarique and Schuler, 2010).However along with the internal changes external factors like cultural changes taking place in the world, the technological developments and constant inventions that is witnessed with each passing day. The economic growth and fluctuations faced by the various countries and the political legal scenario also play a major in influencing the terms and conditions of an organization (Tymaon, Stumpf and Doh, 2010).
Going by the impact the various challenges are that an industry is facing we first need to analyse the nature of the challenges. Observation of the challenges that are taken up for discussion, we see that all the trends whose influence we are trying to assess are external factors. The main trend which in reality is a matter of concern is the stepped-up competition of talent in the market (Jiang, Lepak, Hu and Baer, 2012). There is constant competition to attract the best kind of labour in the market. Each company with the help of their policies of work ethics, development and growth tries to attract the best of the lot.
Attracting and acquisition of a person and their skills is not the issue today, the problem revolves around the retention of the person in the long run. Companies are offering neck to neck competition in the market today. They are adapting strategies like offering high salary packages , relaxed shifts or work conditions, flexibility of time , recreational facilities and the like , they try to attract the most skilled people in the company (Mandhanya and Shah, 2010). For e.g., ITC or the India Tobacco Company, a leading FMCG company tries to acquire the creamy layers of the society by offering a higher salary package to the its employees along with other perks and benefits in order to retain them in the long run. Phillips India Limited for that matter provides the option of ‘work from home’ to their employees to ensure their convenience. What we need to accept is the fact that there is dearth of talent in the market today, thus the HR personnel’s are try to mould the policies of their organization in a such a manner that they can get the apt people for the diverse kinds of job they are offering. Google, for example is regarded as the best company to work for as they provide the best of facilities for their employees. This is done so because they can be best in the market. They are investing in the employees in return for the output given by them. This would help them increase their productivity.(Scarbrough and Corbett, 2013).
The strategy is formulated in such a manner that they promote the individual development of an organization in line with the ultimate objective of the organization. For this purpose, it is often seen that the companies also map out career plan for their employees to keep them motivated and give them a clear vision of what they have to do in the organization (Fee, 2014). This shows that the rat race for acquiring the best kind of talent for their organization plays a direct role in the formulation of the policies for the HR department (Mondy & Mondy, 2013). It is also ensure that they provide what the others in the market cannot. This is not only with respect to the monetary compensation but also the social and psychological aspects.
The next challenge faced by the HR department and the hospitality industry today is the new developments that are taking place in the world. If we trace the history, technology has played an important role in shaping up the organizational structure. Initially most of the work in any industry was done manually which means that more labour force rather more people were required to carry out the tasks. At the end the production was also low as compared to the work which is done manually. ( Choi, Lee and Yoo, 2010).However with industrial revolution and other technological transformations taking place in the due course of time replaced manual labour with machines which obviously changed the face of many policies of the company. Lesser people were now required to carry out the same task. However specialized labour was now required to operate the systems and various machines.
The role of the HR manager is to handle the technological advancement and of course the people along with it in such a way that factors like employee management and team building does not come as challenge in front of them. This is usually done by improvising the concept of change management in their systems. When something new or different is introduced in the organization, the Human Resource manager takes the responsibility of ensuring that the employees are well acquainted with the new system. They also provide them with requisite skills for dealing with the same (C G Davidson, McPhail and Barry, 2011).For e.g., if a new software package is introduced in the company, the employees are given adequate training to operate that software. This is where the major role of the HR personnel comes in the scenario.
Previously, their task was merely restricted to the recruitment and allotting their packages as per their qualification but now there is much more to the picture. With the changes taking place in technology, HRM in any organization now tries to constantly try to keep pace with the changes otherwise it would be impossible to manage the people. Taking the example of Canon, a multinational camera manufacturing company was first of its kind in manufacturing new types of cameras with focal lenses (Mellow, 2011). However with the advancement in technology what we see in fashion is the coming of the high resolution camera phones.This made the camera market almost obsolete in nature. In order to cope with this change, the organization thought of utilizing the lenses they specialized and diversified their system of production by now manufacturing Xerox and photocopy machines which was then gaining rapid importance in the market (Daley, 2012).This example clearly shows us how HR department along with other line managers coped up with a crisis with the help of their innovative policies. This was in line with the advancements and most importantly change management.
Another inevitable and important change that takes place in any organization is the demographic changes. As the labour force is very diverse now, industries try to make a good amount of change in their approach towards people management. If we take in the ageing population into consideration, it should be kept in mind that with the change in generation the HR implications are also changing in the same manner. (Boehm, Kunze and Bruch, 2014).
A major demographic change that is taking place is the increase in the number of female employees in organization. Where the HR people were accustomed to dealing with men, new strategies have to be planned to suit both the generations. For the same cause, benefits that are especially created for the convenience of the women like maternity leaves have been thought of to ensure that their satisfaction and comfort?(Dowling et al, 2013).
With the new generation constantly trying to be innovative in the way they do things, cannot be dealt with in the same manner as one deals with the older employees. What motivates a young person and a relatively old person can be very different. For that matter even the vision they have can be antagonistic in nature (Ernst Kossek, Lewis and Hammer, 2010).Thus the HR has to ensure that their strategic planning is tailor fit for the age group they are dealing with. For example, a perk like a free holiday trip would not excite or motivate an older employee as compared to younger one. Thus demographic changes directly influence the plans and policies of an organization.
With the changing society, we see a drastic change in the organizational pattern as well of the industries. Human Resource Management now acquires an innovative and unique way of dealing with the people of the company which was earlier much lighter in nature. HR managers have the most important role to play in the organization because they are responsible for managing people, men being social animal with the ability to reason and question becomes a major problem. HRM has acquired a prominent role in the society owing to functions it now performs in any organization – from planning to application , from mere organizing to skilful training , the functions of an HR has come a long way. The companies and industries that operate in the 21st century have been carved out of their HR practices itself. This is done in accordance with the changing times and the challenges they are facing (Patrick Neumanand Dul, 2010 ).The trends and challenges a company faces gives it a new face altogether by reforming its policies and restructuring its regulation. If any organization fails to cope up with the changing trends or are unable to find methods to overcome these changes that are unavoidable, the company would slowly perish. The major impact mostly on the organizations after facing the challenges is to change- a change in accordance with need of the hour or what the situations demand for per se. The external challenges are in fact healthy for any organization as they teach the companies to be on their toes. They help them in brainstorming various new ways of handling the change.(Thunnison,Boselie and Fruytier, 2013). Of course the challenges do become problematic for the organizations at times, but then again this is the spirit of competition. Furthermore, when they overcome these challenges, such organizations are mostly found at the winning end.
References:
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