The Efficiency and Effectiveness of the HR Policies and Practices of Nokia Company - Case Study Example

Effectiveness and efficiency of HR policies and practices at Nokia Company Name: Course Title Tutor Date Introduction The paper will focus on evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of HR policies and practices at Nokia Company. Nokia Company has its headquarters based in Finland. Being a mobile phone manufacturer, it is considered to be the largest of all the mobile phone manufacturers in the world. It has employees of over 50, 000. The company has build up 16 factories which are scattered in 11 countries. People who have embraced its products have contributed towards its success as it global market share on handsets of up to 40 per cent being some of the key human policies that had been highlighted by the company. Those in the factories have produced quality products which has attracted a good number of clients. It profit margins range between 20 and 25 per cent despite global transformation on technological innovation coming from the Asian manufacturers who have been seen to be aggressively fighting to meet the global market as far as technology is concern (Anthony, & Young, 2004). At the first time they had considered proposing the creation of systematic records through centralization of human resource data in a given place considering as one of its important function in the organization. As one of its proposals, Nokia Company had sought out to considering cost as one of the key elements that could drive HR. through this the committee decided to decentralize this by allowing Human resource consultants in different countries to consider those aspects that seemed important. On top of this was yet another crucial factor that was simplifying and streamlining the approach. In order to ensure that managers and employees get the required expertise, the company created processing stations in India and other several HR centers which took a period of two years (Branson, 2005). The second part of Nokia strategy was re-evaluating its work flows together with its policies within the HR. the core issue on changing on the role of human resource, it dealt with policy through provision of support and consultation services in the rest part of the organization. Nokia company have improved on how it recruit on it human resource and has also changed their job titles. In connection to this, a HR manager can work on this by his own without being assisted by other departments. More so, the issue of recruitment has be decentralized whereby every station is entitled to deal with its own businesses without asking or waiting for orders from above. In this case the company has managed to meet the needs of its human resource. Promotion is yet another issue that the Nokia Company has considered to be of important if they observe it carefully. Individuals who have good track record in the company are promoted. In basing on performance to promote employees is one of the factors that contribute towards the success of Nokia. The number of people involved in the recruitment of new employees has been reduced to with the reason that a large number will lead to arguments that when the panel was reduced. Financed that are used during the process is also not pleasing. This move was considered by Nokia as a strategy in the HR as they believed that corruption does exist when the number of panelist are increased. In order to ensure that they minimize the amount of customization of the project, the Nokia Company employed a SAP’s off-the-shelf web technology (Wisner, & Fawcett, 2001). Through teamwork the company assigned some experienced individuals in order to roll the portal. Their proposal was aimed at using a single component which will be developed gradually step by step.   At the first instance, there were numerous complaints that were launched by clients, being experienced in terms of HR, the company managed to meet all the complaint that were raised. After a while the company moved an extra mile to encourage its staff and manager to employ their portal instead of taking their queries to the HR. this process was gradual too. They later eliminated the HR jargon which was a priority to them; they achieved this by making the portal easier to be understood by the non-HR specialists. On the same note, the company also introduced a better way that HR employees could work better they usually do. They changed their mode at which the worked in that the manager was no longer giving commands as usual but was the role of HR specialists to give direction on how to go about on daily duties. They encourage employees to undertake a screen sharing and later coach them to work on the assigned duty. The HR strategy that they opted to bring in failed. That is, the company had proposed to come up with an integration whereby the SAP HR system will link the country based payroll system of Nokia. This was considered a technical challenge that HR had experienced so far. In order to ensure an easy, the company has decided to come up with a single model that is meant for payroll across its entire geographical regions. This was done by rationalizing the number of systems that are being used.  Data analytics In order to ensure effectiveness in Nokia Company, they have proposed to building projects through development of systems which will be aimed at HR exploitation. An analytical package has been acquired by the company from the Inform Business Impact and was granted to the HR specialist Success Factors to help the monitor the trends of recruitment and diversity. Though there is still room for advancement, the company has pointed out HR as one of the key elements that contribute to the success of the entire company. For instance, for the company to come up with a clear list of managers who are highly skilled and are well known for high performers that are to be recruited, data analytics has been put in place (Vokurka, & Gene, 2005). Specialization has also been employed n the company in that managers who are talented in picking the right people to work in the company, such kind of information will be useful in future where values are developed focusing on what they perform best.  Companies across the globe have been amazed on how Nokia Company is actually growing in terms of its HR; the issue is how they employ some specific HR practices which will focus on bringing in more employees and afterwards retaining them. Such kind of a strategy has acquired a number of impacts as far as talent management is concern which has brought Nokia to being a leader in mobile phone and telecommunication industry.       Management is a component that many businesses and organizations globally are facing it as a challenge in terms of its competitiveness. Currently, strategic HR has been emphasized, when corporate goals and personnel policies are well linked together than the chances of an organization achieving success is high and so to Nokia Company. Human resource management role is ensuring that organization achieve success through its people. Most of the achievements are attained from an enterprise only when individuals in an organization are committed both in terms of capital and human capital. A satisfied will care for the needs of its customers thus customer satisfaction. HRM practices have fully integrated the concept of Nokia in order to attract and also retain good employees. The strategic dimension to talent management has been inevitably a core aspect that made Nokia to be one of the leading organizations in the mobile and telecommunications industry.       Strategic Human Resource Management can be well explained as a pattern of planned human resource deployments and tasks so as to enable an organization to attain its objectives. HRM practices entail recruitment and selection, training and development, performance appraisal and feedback, compensation and employee relations (Wisner, & Fawcett, 2001). Human Resource practices at Nokia Company are in regular alignment with the business objectives. The recruitment strategy that has been employed at Nokia Company is not only based on skills and knowledge of candidates but diversified management and the inclusiveness of minorities are also key issues. In evaluating Nokia Company, the researcher will be in a position to understand on the efficiency effectiveness of the organization as well as its growth. In the current years, both external and internal factors of Nokia have drastically changes. Some of the changes that the Nokia Company has really experienced include technological advancement, emergence of globalization and competing for competitive advantage. Nokia Company have sought to secure a market share as well as coming up with other new markets with the goal being to ensure that they emerge the leader in the market and being different thus being able to come up with a unique competitive advantage and avoid imitation from competitors. In ensuring they adapt to newly emerging tends, Nokia company have realized that business environment has become dynamic and volatile. The company has realized that through extra capital, adapting to new technology, upgrading equipment and acquiring of natural resources, Nokia Company have come in terms with the fact that through acquisition of all these, the organization will be in a better position to gain competition. It is only with time that Nokia Company products were imitated by rivals thus making the company to lack effectiveness before coming up with new strategies that will lead to competitive advantage. It was barely some few decades when the Nokia Company realized that in order to achieve competitive advantage; they should be able to emerge on top of the rest of its rivals though practically it may be difficult. They came up with products that cannot be easily imitated by rival and so is competitive advantage. In today’s market, the objective of every firm has been directed to identifying a unique capability so as to attain competitive advantage in the marketplace by ensuring that their competencies are well utilized (Akwetey, 2011). Organizations are therefore not supposed to be confined to their functional domains but should move across boundaries. Currently, organizations in developed countries operate in a complex environment and with full of regulations. In developing a product therefore, firms through the management should consider establishing a competitive advantage. Organizations are therefore called through this so as to review their strategic capabilities as one of their key things so that they can stand the changing demand with the changing time. It is through this therefore that an analysis is pioneered out in Nokia Motor Corporation so that as to identify strategic capabilities in the current situation where competition it continuing to be stiff within the automotive industry which will in turn turns out to be Nokia’s strengths in handset industry. Nokia company is a multinational corporation being among the largest marker of handset and provision financial services to it clients. They also produce sewing machines that have been spread to all parts of the globe. Basing on the global structure of Nokia Corporation, it has numerous factories that are located nearly in all the countries so as to serve the local markets. Examples of countries that have huge factories for assembling Nokia’s include; United Kingdom, Mexico, United Nation, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Philippines, South Africa and Turkey among others. Its headquarters is situated in Nokia, Hungary. Apart from phones production and other handset types, Nokia is famous for rallying participation. Being the leading handset manufacturer and production, a philosophic production system has been adopted by the company and is termed Nokia Way. The Nokia Company operates in an awesome scale to an extent that its influences are so huge that it is always hard to identify. As the Nokia Company is embracing on technological diversities, they should also consider new investments but on the other hand be assured of risks and uncertainties that will be encountered in the long run (Kevin, 2011). In the Nokia Company, over Hundredths of thousands of phones and mobiles and vehicles are produced weekly, this are basically the most complicated products of their type in producing mass volumes. The company has employed a cutting edge manufacturing technology. Though the Company has achieved this ability to employ the latest technologies, coordination skills have not yet been achieved. Emotional sensitivities and intellect capabilities in the electronic technologies have not maximized fully by the industry (Porter, 2010). The Company should look forward to utilizing the upcoming opportunities that may arise due to energy starvation caused by climbing oil prices. To achieve this, the Company should ensure that it employs appropriate technologies so as to meet them (Aosa, 2000). HR efficiency evaluation In the above analysis on the roles of HRM one will be in a position to understand that it does really bring about the growth of the organization, in moving an extra mile, we expand that the role of human resource mangers at Nokia company in not only recruiting, selecting, training and performing appraisals but are accorded with other roles such as ensuring that their human resource functions are well matched with strategic dimensions that have been taken by the organization (Armstrong, 2006). Successful managers are those who know their potential and competencies in the right direction. The difference that is seen comes from the exceptional managerial skills that are seen in the managers today. These are the skills that make managers successful in their endeavors. It is important to note that anyone can become a manager but what is most important is to note that maintaining the achievement. In today’s competition, there is need to have effective management in the organization so as to make the organization to be ahead of the competition (Branson, 2005). Many businesses and organizations are looking for managers who are in a position to solve the many problems that come with the tight competition today. Coupled with the changing trends of information technology, there is need to have effective managers which are able to take on the heat of the competition. There is a tendency for successful organizations to engage in training so that they are able to deal with these challenges. The effective management skills are no longer vital to managers alone but to individuals also (Armstrong, 2000). The individuals are meant to use these management skills to ensure that they are able to have the required efficiency in the organization. The extent of globalization and the use of information technology are making the business environments to be more complicated by the day. It is due to this that effective managers are the most sought people in the corporate world today. The effectiveness of a manager can determine the extent to which staff is productive, will determine the culture of the organizational and will eventually determine whether the business will be a success or a failure. Managers should be able to inspire, coordinate, supervise, and encourage; in doing so, they are able to give direction in the organization. The qualities of the managers and those of others are developed by the managers themselves. The managers make use of communication, organizational and planning skills in order to come out successfully in anything. What is more, the qualities like integrity, honesty and courage are just what the manager will need to go to greater heights. Globalization, technological changes, and knowledge management are the issues that are making management to change the business world. The changes that are seen in the world today are making the managers to redefine their skills; the relevance of the skills that are required for effective management is changing so fast. Decision-making is bound to be changed in the long run. It requires that the managers be innovative, and visionary in anything they are doing. They are also required to working various departments and working environments. This is changing the perception and the skill that the managers are supposed to master the areas and the skills that are required in that area. On top of this, they are also required to understand these working environments. They are supposed to differentiate these working environments. The environment in which there is experienced changes include external working environments, the competitive environment and macro-environment which have an influence in economic and the bigger picture of the government dynamics. Faced with these changes in technology, the managers are supposed to equip themselves with the techniques and skills that will enable them to fight the changes that are to be seen in the future. These skills include flexibility, good communication, and critical thinking skills. These, coupled with negotiation skills make them ready to face the challenges that are to be seen in the environment. It ha been unanimously agreed that there are three skills that are required for an effective manager. The skills make the manager to fit into the organization and make him/her to counter any situation that comes their way. The three skills include technical, conceptual, and humanitarian skills. The application of these skills helps in identifying the efficiency of a manager in an organization. These skills help the manager to handle virtually all the issues that face them in the course of running the business. 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