Human Resources Management: Reengineering Towards a Global Perspective - Essay Example

Human Resources Management: Reengineering Towards a Global Perspective Much as we are aware about the significance of the human resource aspect in organizations, a strategic form of management applied within the arena of human resources permits the easier facilitation of organizational change. Although the human resource agenda have immemorially been incorporated in the principles of strategic planning, an understanding of the applicability of these processes in organizational management is relatively new. Today, as more companies recognize the benefits that organizational development and the role of human resource management, sturdy provisions reengineered with applicable implementation guidelines could often promote positive outcomes in operations From the technological perspective, the workplace is deemed through the production processes that take place in a discrete area of production. Essentially, the hierarchy of managers, supervisors, and workers characterize the workplace organizationally. The orientations of workers and managers to the particular area delineate the social limits of a workplace. Such a definition need not be limited to manufacturing alone, though. The workplace can also be a department in a bank or university or a school within an education system. What is important is that the work area is discrete, has some technological or production unity which marks it off from other workplaces, and it is recognized as such by workers and managers. Therefore, it is evident that the field of Human Resource Management has evolved into a strategic, technical, and measurement-oriented area in the past few years. Predictably, this field will continue to grow in sophistication and complexity as a reflection of the world in the 21st century concretized by the lessons of encountering multifarious ethical dilemmas in organizations. An organization's core values are manifested by its culture. In the basic ways that business is handled, culture accentuates how decisions are made and how rewards are distributed. Employees learn these ways of doing business through observing co-workers and leaders. If no expectations are established and effectively communicated, employees will "make it up" as they go along when faced with ethical dilemmas. Here, it is revealed that the role of good human resource management practices can be a determinant for building a strong ethical foundation to eventually change a culture that has some of the indicators of a weak ethics system in an organization. With the recent changes going on in employee relations, tackling the workplace requires a new form of public management based on the following building blocks (Barzelay, 2001): Strategy - What is the public value the organization is really trying to create Answering this question forces the managers to figure out their policy goals and exactly what role their agency should play in fulfilling those goals. Workplace design - Like a good roadmap, a sound design helps managers reach its ultimate policy and operational destination. Connecting the network - Technology is the glue that can hold networked company together, allowing employees to share knowledge, business processes, decision making, client information, workflow and other data. Ensuring accountability - Ensuring accountability in a networked arrangement is a matter of getting the following four things right: incentives, measurement, trust, and risk. Human capital transformation - In addition to knowing about planning, budgeting, staffing, and other traditional company duties, networked management requires becoming proficient in a host of other tasks, such as negotiation and mediation. Manufacturing methods in the workplace excited particular interest and, during the 1980s, wide-scale implementations of practices such as just in time production, total quality control and team-based work organizations (Voss and Robinson, 1987). The strong Japanese identity of many of these practices ensured that issues of the feasibility and desirability of the transfer of these practices attracted widespread debate about the "Japanisation" phenomenon (Elger and Smith, 1994; Oliver and Wilkinson, 1992). This debate was extended by the publication of the influential 'The Machine that Changed the World' (Womack et al., 1990) which coined "lean production" to describe management practices found in their purest form among Toyota and its suppliers in Japan, but allegedly transferable anywhere in the world. Several authors have exalted the successful operation of Japanese production systems that depend on human resource policies, which deliver "willing co-operation" rather than mere compliance on the part of the workforce (Pil and MacDuffie, 1996). Whether the net result of such policies is one of mutual gain for management and workers, as argued by commentators such as Womack et al. (1990) or one of increased subordination (Dohse et al., 1985), where workers are denied an independent voice and "locked" into the firm, is a debated point (Delbridge et al., 1992). The basic human resource elements of the model include: shared destiny relations between employee and employing organization; team-based work organization on the shopfloor, including labour flexibility and multi skilling; opportunities for shopfloor workers to improve the production process, via suggestion schemes and problem solving groups; and much greater responsibility for front line operators for a range of activities on the shopfloor, including quality monitoring and improvement, maintenance and personnel issues such as the selection of new members for work groups (Oliver et al, 1998). In addition to this, the role of good communication in a certain organization or company is definitely beneficial in promoting understanding and maintaining good working atmosphere among employees. This makes communication and employee participation is a critical component of any strategic plan implementation. In constructing a model to guide human resource managers in dynamic environments, a focus on communications should be considered essential. The Communications Initiative Model (CIM) is designed as a complement to the functional human resource process of planning, staffing, development and evaluation, and maintaining effective workforce relations (Anderson, 1995). The CIM is intended to help guide human resource managers in managing human resources in turbulent environments. This model, like virtually all organizational initiatives, depends critically on top management support for accomplishment of its intended objectives. The Communications Initiative Model employs the following components: 1.) Communication - Communication affects how people in organizations relate to each other. Without effective communication, managers can accomplish very little, especially in an environment of rapid change. Managers must communicate strategy effectively and in a timely manner in order for the proposed strategy to be successful. 2.) Participation - Organizations meet with less resistance to change when they foster employee participation and involvement. When potential resisters are involved in the design and implementation of the strategy or change, they are less inclined to oppose the change (Brett, Cron, & Slocum, 1995). 3.) Ownership - Participative leadership leads to ownership and commitment to the strategy or initiative by members of the organization. Strategy and change that is characterized by consulting with subordinates, encouraging their suggestions, and carefully considering their input when making decisions gives members an sense of ownership and personal involvement in the change or proposed strategy (Evans, 1970). 4.) Implementation - The transition from strategy formulation to strategy implementation requires a shift in responsibility from strategists to functional managers. Managers and employees are normally motivated by perceived self-interest than by organizational interests. 5.) Facilitation - Following implementation, the CIM Model employs facilitation as a means of preventing entropy, or loss of momentum, loss of commitment, and loss of leadership for the strategy or change. As various trends in globalisation, technology, diversity, e-business and work ethics are continually enhanced for the benefit of both the managers, workers and the whole corporation, the human resources department has a gargantuan task in an organization to unite all of these developments taking place. To be a globally competitive company, HR professionals should take the helm at leadership roles by virtue of their visibility and influence. Employees look to the leadership as role models to guide their own behaviour. This is especially true when organizations are weathering in difficult times, such as mergers or acquisitions. A written Code of Ethics cannot be institutionalized unless organization leaders show their respect for individuals and the organization by engaging in legal and moral behaviours. Employees will learn to trust and respect each other and managers only if they observe characteristics that merit that trust and respect (Gravett, 2000). In view of globalisation, several authors often cite the Japanese production systems which deliver "willing co-operation" rather than mere compliance on the part of the workforce (Pil and MacDuffie, 1996). Whether the net result of such policies is one of mutual gain for management and workers or one of increased subordination (Dohse et al., 1985), where workers are denied an independent voice and "locked" into the firm, it is still a debated point (Delbridge et al., 1992). However, the basic logic is fairly simple; if production operators are required to take responsibility for a wider repertoire of tasks, such as problem solving and continuous improvement activities, then a closer, more co-operative climate is needed within the firm (Wickens, 1995). In the enhancement of development strategies, it is of sublime significance to consider not only organizational culture as a concept, but also the internal and external factors that affect organizational behaviour. With the era of globalisation at hand, necessary transformations are required in the pursuit of excellence above all competitors. In order to introduce transformations, going back to the basics is the key. The key ingredients for improvement are good leadership, effective communication, healthy learning environment, ownership, reward and recognition, all of which are basically imbued in basic human resource development strategies. References Barzelay, M. (2001). The New Public Management: Improving Research and Policy Dialogue. Los Angeles: UC Press. Brett, J. F., Cron, W. L. & Slocum, J. W., Jr. (1995). Economic dependency on work: A moderator of the relationship between organizational commitment and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 38 261-271. Delbridge, R., Turnbull, P. and Wilkinson, T. (1992). Pushing back the frontiers: management control and work intensification under JIT/TQM factory regimes, New Technology, Work and Employment, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 97-106. Dohse, K., Jurgens, U. and Malsch, T. (1985). From 'Fordism' to 'Toyotism' The social organisation of the labour process in the Japanese automobile industry, Politics and Society, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 11.5-46. Elger, T and Smith, C. (1994). Global Japanization, Routledge, London. Evans, M. G. (1970). The effects of supervisory behavior on the path-goal relationship. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 5 277-298. Gravett, L. (2000, April 2). How Human Resources Can Help Build an Ethical Organization. E-HResources Website. Acquired online last November 26, 2005 at http://www.e-hresources.com/Articles/Apr2.htm Oliver, N. and Wilkinson, B. (1992). The Japanization of British Industry: Developments in the 1990s, Basil Blackwell, Oxford. Pil, F. and MacDuffie, J. (1996). "The adoption of high-involvement work practices", Industrial Relations, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 323-55. Rooney, M.J. (1990), Summer. Toyota System Production Meets Large Scale Change: A Synergy for Sustainable Improvements, Organization Development Journal. vol.23, no. 2, p. 21 Voss, C. and Robinson, S. (1987). "The application of just-in-time techniques", International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 46-52. Wickens, P. (1995). The Ascendant Organisation, Macmillan, Basingstoke. Womack, J.P., Jones D.T. and Roos, D. (1990). The Machine that Changed the World: The Triumph of Lean Production, Rawson Macmillan, New York, NY. 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