Organisational Flexibility and the Concept of Learning - Essay Example

? (Assignment) Human Resource management Organisational Flexibility has become one of the competitive advantages of modern business operations as the increasingly technological and aggressive business environment requires frequent changes in the structure and strategies of every organisation. The sustainability of a firm primarily depends on its management’s efficiency in identifying the need for change and executing appropriate amendments right time. The need for change would reflect an array of symptoms which will have multiple effects on the business as a whole. Only a manger with outstanding skill can identify the required changes right way. If a company fails to understand the required changes, it would confront with crises as it misunderstands the symptoms as real issues to be addressed. The following part of the paper will discuss how a company can identify the need for change from its internal and external environments. 1. Unusual decline in turnover: this is the basic sign that would prompt every firm to identify the range of business profitability. Organizations usually review previous years’ audited balance sheet with intent to investigate the prevailing business trend as well as the organizational sustainability. In the same way if the operational cost is found exceeding the profit derived from the business, it indicates the need for some strategic changes in the business operation. However, the specific area of change can be identified only through further scrutiny. Presumably, most of the problems, no matter associated with fiscal aspects or market backlashes, are attributed to HR failure. 2. Strategic failures: If some of the recently implemented marketing strategies are not well responded, the company should review them to identify the causes of failure. Failure may not be necessarily due to their inaptness but can happen because of numerous direct or indirect factors related to business. As far as the internal environment is concerned, a well designed strategy can be defeated just by the mibehaviour of one or more individuals. In other words, how well a strategy is implemented is more important than the quality of its design. 3. Unethical practices: Organizational misconduct is an important symptom that indicates the inevitability of change, perhaps specifically in the area of HRM and organizational structure. Most of the fraudulent activities occur due to the inefficient internal communication and auditing. Modern organizations heed genuine concern to enhance internal communication by integrating various departments with the help of web-based technologies. By doing so they can easily manage the problems associated with information sharing and problem solving. Diagnosing the cause is not the end but the initial step of any treatment process. Once the need for change is identified a firm has to proceed with designing and implementing relevant changes that would enhance the overall cohesion of the organisation. There are numerous issues an organisation has to take into consideration while initiating changes. As Dunphy (249) warns, most important one among them is to address employees’ resistance to change which would raise several ethical concerns. An organisational culture that was formed over years cannot be altered overnight. A change can take place successfully only if people in an organisation realise that the organisation must change its current culture and practices in order to ensure the firm’s sustainability and progress. However, the process requires members’ deep understanding of the need for change, their commitment to accomplish it, and the effective way of deploying it. The understanding refers to the knowledge about the current culture and its impacts on the firm, the anticipated benefit of the new system, and the real goal it would achieve. This knowledge can be acquired by reviewing the extent to which the current culture has helped the firm to meet its mission, vision, and values with regard to business aims and social concerns. 2 Organisations that envisage sustainable growth must develop their own policy on individual learning. Such organisations are termed as ‘learning organisations’ for they give emphasis on employees’ learning in a way that would add to the competence of the business. The learning as a whole involves initiating a culture of integrated knowledge sharing that would promote effective thinking, self management leadership, and innovative ideas among the members. As mentioned earlier, communication is the core aspect of the strategic success in every organization. A company that aims at individual learning must improve its communication strategies. As the initial part of the learning, it must gather information from every corner of its business operation to assess the performance of individuals and of the company in total. This is the part of system thinking which in large sense, involves the close examination of various mechanism of the firm with regard to business performance. Another area of significance lies with promoting individuals’ interest in learning. It is possible mainly through training and personal development programmes. Individuals’ knowledge is an intangible asset of company that can be deployed as the competitive advantage. Employees’ ability to acquire skills not only empowers the workforce but also the company’s ability to vie with its competitors. Organisations must define their own business ideology in order to avert perceptional variance and other disparities. It is common that individuals will have different outlook on almost every aspect of life. However, this ideological variance must not affect the cohesiveness of an organization. To meet this aim they should be convinced of the collective vision and objectives. If an organization does not take initiative toward this teaching, it would invite emotional conflicts among individuals. Defining individuals’ role is another important step an organization must perform well. They should be made aware of the areas of their function with up-to-date knowledge and skills required. It would enhance the individual performance as well as the productivity of the firm in the long run. “Once knowledge acquisition has taken place, employees should be able to distinguish between correct and incorrect performance procedures” (Gilley & Maycunich, 14). This distinction according to the writers includes their ability to describe their responsibilities, to differentiate their activities from that of others (14). People adequately informed will respond to situations accordingly and will share their vision on different issues emerging from time to time. This sharing, though directly aims at problem solving and innovation, it has an indirect, perhaps the most vital effect; it empowers the whole workforce with improved knowledge. Since everyone has access to information, individuals feel comparatively less loaded in their workplace. Group learning is said to be the most effective of all tactics toward the learning process in modern firms. According to O’Keeffe (2002), team learning is the accumulation of individual learning. The major facet of this learning activity is discussion and interaction that would let the whole staff grow rapidly with improved responsiveness in their works. Group learning will enable the firm to make the workforce capable of beating information barriers. However, individual resistance can be a problem in group learning too when people demonstrate reluctance to learning processes because of emotional barriers or ignorance. In short, the learning process regardless of the activities involved, ought to have a comprehensive outlook on its outcome. The concept of learning should not be confined to individual training on one’s related work area but must propose the competency of the organization heightened by collective knowledge. Identifying the need for change, designing strategies for changes, and executing them right time would contribute to the sustainable growth of every organisation. Works Cited Dunphy, Dexter. Griffiths, Andrew and Benn, Suzanne. Organizational change for Corporate Sustainability. New York: Routledge, 2002. Gilley, Jerry and Maycunich, Ann. Beyond the learning organization: Creating a culture of continuous growth and development through state-of-the-art human resource practices. NY: Basic Books, 2000. O’Keefe, T. “Organizational learning: A new perspective”. Journal of European Industrial Training, vol. 26. No.2, pp. 130-141. Read More