The Distinguishing Features of HRM in a Developing Country - Assignment Example

Topic:  Examine the distinguishing features of HRM in A Developing country(Australia) Introduction Human resource management is an integral part of any business organization and one without it cannot operate in a well defined manner. Human resource management otherwise known as human resource development assist an organization in planning, managing manpower recruitment , training and selection of employees, career development and so on. The primary objective of a Human resource division is to enhance the productivity of an organization while improving the working capacity of its employees and at the same time ensuring the personal development of its employees. According to (Technology Evaluation,2011)“The knowledge base on human resources management systems affords clients the opportunity to rapidly determine their criteria for management and employee personnel tasks. Its extensive criteria include benefits and payroll management, employee self service, data warehousing, and health and safety requirements”. Human resource management has various features and functions, which helps it to achieve its specific strategies and goals. Today the business world has vast numbers of large and International business organizations where human resource plays a vital role in its daily operation and systematic running. As per, Armstron(2002,pg.15) “Human resource strategy has two key elements: there must be strategic objective and there must be a plan of action which is to be met as a goal of the organization. The features and function of Human resource management is wide and varied, as it handles the whole issue related to the organization’s employees. Since employees are the back bone of an organization, the Human resource division is the foundation which makes any organization strong and static. Role of HRM in Developing Countries In many developing countries the Human resource management is fully or partially established to aid the smooth functioning of big and international organizations .With the increasing influence of globalization, the demands of human resource management is heightening at great level , also is the need for improving the effectiveness of its staff. Tessema(2006.pg86-105)states that ,“As performance is a multi-faceted and complicated concept, HRM outcomes were used as mediating factors between HR practices and employee performance”. Human resource mainly deals with the functions of the employees in an organization and without this department the activities of a business fail. Human resource strategies are heart and soul to a developing nation as it helps in the upgrading of the economical status of the country. The human resources management department is the division which handles all the core activities related to the employees and their welfare. In the past decades , the globalization have taken a sharp up turn and hence wide range of socio– economical activities have been taking place on business level in developing country like Australia. As per, SAGE(2009,pg.3) “The field of HRM continue to evolve in today’s organizations, in part due to the economic, technological and social realities that influence the nature of business.The new adaptive style of Human resources is based on the contemporary issues faced by the Australian business environment .The issues covered are training development of employees, diversity in work place, life/work balance, the effectiveness of employees and the effect of technology in an organization . It also places special attention on the formulation and implementation of HRM strategies and plans of a business firm. Michelson(2003,pg133-148)writes that “ During the last 20 years organizations in Australia have been managing their people in a more competitive, global and deregulated environment. Although practitioners support the development and implementation of a human resource management approach, research indicates that the use of practices that are integrated with corporate strategy is uneven”. It can be seen that, the Human resource practitioners in large organization is seen as operational managers rather than business partners. The Human resource experts and HR specialist have wider role in organization than people assume as they are core people responsible for the smooth functioning of business firms. These key people have the responsibility of restructuring the organizational structure as well as the efficiency and working relationship of employees in private and public sector. Within small and medium sized businesses there is sometimes a belief that some of the human resource management (HRM) techniques are only for the big companies. In practice, it could be said that the smaller you are, it becomes more important to get best of the workforce. CEO(2011)writes that “Since developing countries like India, China and Australia has a vast number of large organizations the role of human resource management is really invaluable. Especially the Human resource management in developing country like Australia is challenging and contemporary to any other nation in the world. HRM Practices and Strategies in Australia HRM practices and strategies in Australia have gained much popularity recently, as it is critical to the commercial successful of a business firm. The emerging issue and challenges in the business organization needs much attention and planning from human resource department. According to Smith (2006,pg.43)“But in the 1980s and 1990s, a different concept of human resource management began to gain ground. At the heart of the new approach was the belief that the management of people gives an organization competitive advantage. This leads to a number of distinct differences between human resource management and personnel management”.Organisation is of different nature in a developing country like Australia, and serves various purposes. Some organization manufacturers goods for national and international purpose, while other offer services for profit and non – profit organizations. However, the need for human resource strategies and planning remains same fro all firms. The number of developments in Australia has led to the transformation of nature of jobs and structure of business organizations. Nankervis(2011,pg.12)writes that,“On the positive side, globalization has broadened the markets for Australian and regional businesses, reshaped labor markets and, with the aid of enhanced information technology and telecommunications systems, begun to fashion new kinds of jobs, new forms of workplaces and, increasingly, more innovative approaches to all human resource management (HRM) processes)”. Features and Functions of HRM in Australia Every Human resource management has certain features and function to run itself successfully in an organization. We can here have an insight in to the features and function of HRM in a developing country like Australia. Features of HRM in Australia a)Integration of Human Resource Planning with Productivity of Business According to this feature the human resource management performs the manpower planning where in the number of employees, their distribution and age profile is set. The forecasting method is also involved in this process like the achieving of sales with projected production and sales analysis and working environment etc. Deery (1990,pg.5-16)claims that,“One of the most pressing issues facing the Australian economy is the need to raise productivity. There is a widespread belief that productivity improvements can only be achieved through a fundamental reform in the area of industrial relations”.The turn over ratios is also considered to analyze the promotion and retirement rates to study the impact it has on the business of the organization . The directing and controlling of employees activities is also crucial to HRM as it makes a great reflection on the interpersonal skills and productivity of an organization. b) Strategic Relation between Management and Employees. With the disturbance caused by the economic downturn in the business activities in the global scenario, efforts are being done by mangers to make credible changes in every sphere of managerial level. According to Goliath(2006) “While employee welfare still remains a priority for promoting employee satisfaction and engagement, the focus on employee loyalty is getting diluted to give way to "performance orientation." Both empowerment" and "strumentalist" HR strategies are being used to realize the goals of HRM”. The employee and manager relation should be well defined by the Human resource department and it should be coherent and transparent. And also the flow of communication should be smooth, objective oriented and focused. c)Employee Centered Management The Australian organizations are now focusing on Employee centered human resource management where special attention is given to the welfare and efficiency of the employees alone. Here plans and strategies are made to improve the performance level and productive qualities of employees to attain the organization objective efficiently and consistently.AIMSA(2011)states that,“More than ever before, the success of every enterprise depends on its employee relations performance. To create and maintain a positive and productive workplace environment, todays managers and HR practitioners must be up-to-date with legislation and practices that impact on their organization”. d)Working of Human Resource Managers in Co-ordination with the Line Manager. The nature of work of Human Resource Manger and line Manager is similar as they both deal with the performance level of the staff in an organisation. According to Sunny(2010)“Role of the line managers like HR managers has similar roles to manage their own staff on a day- to -day basis like setting objectives, like dividing work for staff to do, be motivating and when developing peoples skills or training employees”. So a high level of co-ordination between line mangers and human resource managers is essential to increase the effectiveness of human resource strategies and plans. e). HRM Managers Acting as Facilitators of Employee Empowerment Since the Australian economy is expanding the Human resource managers are taking up dynamic personalities and playing multi – tasking skills. Rodwell(2000,pg135-151)“HRM development practices include those that focus on training and development of employees on longer term basis. HRM practices can also be used to achieve organizational objectives and can be a means to minimize staff turnover”. The HRM policies and strategies should give power to employee and enhance their skills and knowledge to get better productivity from them. Functions of HRM in Australia Every organization big or small with Human resource management has definite function to perform in order to run the firm successfully. In the below section the many of the prominent function of Human resource management is stated briefly. a)Manpower planning Tansky(2006)writes that “Manpower Planning which is also called as Human Resource Planning consists of putting right number of people, right kind of people at the right place, right time, doing the right things for which they are suited for the achievement of goals of the organization.” Manpower planning has a crucial role to play in human resource management as it is a significant hand in the industrialization scenario. This procedure has to be systematically planned and structures to get best staff with less effort. b)Recruitment and Selection of Employees Recruitment and selection of employees is an integral part of any organization and Australian companies give much emphasis on it. Recruitment of employees is related to the internal and external factors like the economic situation as well as the nature and scope of the organization. The selection of employees requires much of expertise from Human resource executives as employees are the core of the organizations. As per, Management Study(2011) “In Australia one of the main problems faced by the small organizations is said to be their ability to recruit “good staff”. So this could be the reason why organization put more emphasis on recruitment and selection function. c) Training and Development Procedure With the high competition in the global business scenario, the right training and development procedure becomes extremely crucial to yield maximum benefit from human capital. It has been observed that investment in training programs for employees have resulted in increased productivity in the overall business performance. If the employees are not trained and educated in the right way, there can be s a loss in the performance and attitude of the employees. Since the large organizations in Australia employs numerous numbers of staff, development and implementation of appropriate training and development programs becomes crucial. According to Bizmove (2011)“The quality of employees and their development through training and education are major factors in determining long-term profitability of a small business”. d)Performance based reward system Mirabella (1999)writes that “Performance-based pay is a reward system innovation in which individuals are compensated based on their work output. Today there is multitudes of pay systems currently in place in both the private and public sectors, but these systems are preset and do not typically consider the motivations of the employees”. The effective reward system is always a challenging aspect for business leaders as demands of staff can vary according to time and productivity. Motivating employees with money incentives is very effective in this competitive business world as everybody is urging for money for better living e) Pay Roll and Pension Provisions Payroll and pension provisions are an important duty of the Human resource management .It is important because it deals with payment of wages, allowances, pension and other compensation of the employees in the whole organization. Agarwal(2008)states that, “Payroll includes not only the printing of checks or handing out of pay stubs; it also includes benefits, taxes, the insurance, workers compensation and funds for the pension. It is a complicated and tiresome process and will require specific bookkeeping training”. Conclusion Human resource management is one department which no organization can neglect as it directly deals with activities of the employees. It is this managements system which organizes, control, direct and manage all the performance of the staff and their performance level. Australia being a developing country has an emergence of large number of organization which deals in various types of business and services. Nowadays, Human resource management is not only connected with employees but they also play the role of strategic business partners. As per Brewster(2004,pg.82) ,“The integration of HRM function into the strategy formulation process is likely to increase flexibility in the organisation. As to flexibility we assume a close collaboration between the line managers and the HR personnel of the business firm In this era, developing countries including Australia more or less are using some what same policies and function to improve their workability and profitability. In Australia, currently more emphasis is given on the employees, their performance quality, development of personal life, pay scale and health and social welfare. Since employees are the back bone of any organization big or small, human resource take position of the backbone of an organization and economy. According to HR Leader(2011)“A lot of people just do the work that comes through the door. There’s really no strategy or vision about the business and where it’s going. If you don’t set a goal or an end, then there’s nothing to work towards.” Bibliography AIMSA. 2011. Human Resource Management . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.aimsa.com.au/manage-employee-relations. [Accessed 18 March 11]. Armstrong, M., 2002. Strategic HRM: the key to improved business performance . 1st ed. London: CIPD Publishing Agarwal,A.. 2008. Human Resources Payroll - Some Must Know Facts. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/human-resources-payroll-some-must-know-facts-703100.html. [Accessed 18 March 11]. Bizmove. 2011. Employee Training and Development. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bizmove.com/personnel/m4d.htm. 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