Emerging Issues in Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations - Essay Example

Emerging Issues in Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations Table of Contents Human Resource Management 3 Emerging trends of Human Resource Management 4 Emerging Issues in Human Resource Management and Industrial relationship 5 Industrial Relationship 7 Changing Workplace Relations 8 Changes in Labor market 9 References 11 Human Resource Management In modern times business environment has become tumultuous and disordered. In such situation human resource management have become a crucial function for an organization. Importance towards the management of workforce is being emphasized like never before. Organizations have understood that it is the human resource which crafts a difference and offers competitive advantage (Buhler, 2010, p.1). In addition to that the productivity of an organization is purely dependent upon the employees (Chandramohan, 2008, p.1). Organizations have also started to put more stress on the management of its manpower. Human resources of an organization are the people who actually accomplish various tasks for the organization by applying their skills, knowledge and abilities. Human resources are also responsible to meet the various objectives of the organization. Human resource management (HRM) is a broader term which primarily encompasses the management of human resource within an organization. It can be defined as the process of managing and controlling the workforce of an organization by means of various activities. HRM is primarily responsible for carrying out a number of functions. Some of the vital tasks include:- Attracting potential candidates for a vacant position. Selection of workforce. Employee appraisal. Rewarding the employees. Training and further orientation of the employee (Werner and DeSimone, 2008, p.10). The aforementioned factors are only the basic function of HRM. Apart from that other functions of HRM include administering the organizational culture and leadership. Alongside that it is also responsible towards ensuring symmetry between the labor laws and employment. For instance when employees are officially authorized to embrace collective bargaining, HR usually serves the function of liaison between the organization and representative of the employees. However the traditional function of HR was to carry out transactional works such as employee remuneration, benefits etc. Emerging trends of Human Resource Management The beginning of the 21st century witnessed careful designing of the working activities. The middle half of the century saw the shifting focus towards employee productivity and management of personnel. However these days HRM is highly focusing upon the aspects such as governmental factors, legislations, total quality management and a rehabilitated prominence on productivity. Some of the vital phases of HRM are discussed below: - The concept of commodity: - In this phase labor was being perceived as commodity which can be sold and bought. There was hardly any respect for an unskilled labor. However with the course of time the situation improved drastically. The factor of production concept: - In this phase labor was being professed as any other regular factor of production like material, money, and land. The concept of Goodwill: - In this phase various measure such as first aid, safety, rest room were added thinking of positive impact and superior productivity. The Paternalism concept: - The phase is characterized by protective nature of the organizations. In this period organizations started to satisfy various needs of the employees. The concept was almost similar like that of a father satisfying the needs of the children. The concept of Humanitarian: - In order to ensure improved productivity, organizations started to satisfy social as well as psychological needs of the staffs. The human resource concept: - This phase has initiated the concept that specifies “Employees of the organization are its most valuable asset” (Goudge, 2006, p.79). Consequently organizations also started to take various initiatives so as to satisfy the aspiration of the staffs. The emerging concept: - The modern concept emphasizes on the fact that employees must be treated like the associates in the development of the company. Employees are treated in such a way that they feel the company to be their own. Hence the focus should be on the development of Human Resource. Emerging Issues in Human Resource Management and Industrial relationship With the passage of time human being has moved towards the age of information and technology. As globalization progresses, there have been considerable changes in the process of human resource management. Hence organizations are required to get accustomed with the changing situations in order to deal with a range of HR issues. In the current business scenario, some of the identified critical issues are acquisition, planning, and development of human resources and dealing with workplace conflicts. It also caters to the relatively new areas such as counseling, training and development, communication and job enrichment. Nevertheless the extent, to which it will be practically implemented, depends heavily upon the appropriate deployment of skills and knowledge. The activities performed by HR mainly encompass 4 broad areas: - 1) Relationships. 2) Roles. 3) Learning focus. 4) Strategic focus. Information technology has also played a vital role toward the progress of HRM. In this enormously competitive business environment, the speed of taking decisions is of great importance. Therefore a sound Human Resource Information System (HRIS) can offer organizations with a number of information and analyses reports within a short span of time (Rajendhiran and Sundararajan, 2010). Furthermore, with the advancement of globalization, HR now even focuses on the strategic programs as well. Mergers and acquisition, succession planning, inclusion & diversity, and labor and industrial relation are some of the modern functions of an HR department. Furthermore as a part of the management practices HRM covers all the aspects of industrial relationship and employee management. Among the modern areas of function industrial relation can be cited as one of the most import areas. The next half of the report will offer insights about the industrial relationship and also about the changing workplace relations. It will also discuss about the key changes in the labour market and the workplace and its impact on people in their everyday life. Industrial Relationship The concept of industrial relations has a long history. It has always been an active component of industrial life. Industrial relation is a vast area and is multidisciplinary in nature. In simple words it can be defined as the relationship of a company with its workers (Cambridge Dictionaries Online, n.d.). Traditionally, industrial relations were used to cover aspects such as collective bargaining, trade unionization, handling various issues pertaining to the employees, explanation of labor law, and managing industrial disputes (De Silva, n.d.). Industrial relation also takes into account the diverse employment circumstances and does not remain confined to the concept of unionization. Industrial Relations have been predisposed by a range of factors. The factors include political viewpoints, societal value, and impact of the unions. The primary aim of industrial relations is to ensure reduced industrial disputes. Generally there are three views of industrial relations namely pluralist, unitarism, and radical. Pluralist Perspective: - According to the concept of pluralism an organization is made of divergent and powerful sub groups. However each group consists of its own set of leaders and objectives. The two chief sub group in an organization in the context of pluralistic viewpoint are trade unions and the management of the organization. Unitarist Perspective: - In this context an organization is perceived as a harmonized and integrated group. In such organization all the employees as well as the management share a common rationale i.e. ‘emphasizing mutual cooperation’. Apart from this, unitarist also has a paternalistic emergence. In these respect organizations seeks loyalty for all the staff members. Radical Perspective: - According to Radical Perspective of industrial relations, organizations are perceived as a capitalist society. There is a basic division of significance between the labor and capital. According to this outlook there exist inequalities in the form of economic wealth and power. Hence conflicts are unavoidable in such organizations where trade unions are the common oppositions for worker exploitation. Changing Workplace Relations Post-World War the working environment had witnessed significant changes. Changes occurred in a number of ways. For example there were modifications in the system of production and even there were changes in the overall system of the organization. For example the US work force has changed drastically. After the world war most of the workers in US embraced white collar jobs in contrast to the blue collar jobs. However farmers faced a critical time with the enhancement of farming business. With the interest of big business houses in agriculture, small families find it extremely difficult to compete in the market place. This has caused a number of farmers to leave their land and give up the farming business. The rate of unemployment also increased drastically. In 1947 the U.S. firms used to employ around 7.9 million people, while in 1998, it has dropped to 3.4 million people (U.S. Department of State, n.d.). The post world war period saw strong consumer demand, and remarkably strong economic growth. For instance the automobile industry efficiently got back into production. The industry started to produce a number of cars after the post world war II. Other small industries such as electronics and aviation grew at a rapid speed. The real estate sector also witnessed boom. There were even changes in the concepts of capitalism. Capitalism is a social, political and economical phenomenon which is supposed to undergo periodic change, unsteadiness. The post world war era has witnessed a capitalism period that embraces flexible production of better quality, non-standard goods. The process of production has significantly changed to meet the diversified needs of the consumers. Nonetheless the changes were made in order to improve the way tasks were accomplished. This has also resulted into a change in the overall system of the organization. In the organizational context change took place in the manner in which people were managed for better efficiency. The post world II war recession has significantly changed the taste of customers, initiated globalized competition in the market place, commencement of transmission of technology from one country to the other took place. Thus on a whole it can be concluded that post World War II period had a strong job market with most of the industries witnessing a steady growth. Changes in Labor market Labor market and the workplace have observed a number of changes in the last few decades. However in the context of the study, the three key changes identified are demographics, technological changes and globalization. The changes are discussed below: - Demographics: - There have been considerable changes in the labor market during the last 25 years. The changes were mainly in the form of demographics. For example there has been a greater participation of women in the service sector. Immigration is also becoming an important factor nowadays, in order to meet the requirement of skilled labors, thereby supporting steady economic growth. These factors also have a direct impact on the everyday household. If there is a scarcity of skilled labor, it may result into sluggish economy. Also with the activeness of female workers, the level of competition rises to a greater extent. Technological Change: - Technological changes have had a significant impact on the workplaces and labor market. For instance, with the deployment of modern technology, the industrial structure of Canada has shifted from primary & manufacturing to the services industry. Large scale productions have been altered to small scale with greater flexibility. Furthermore technological changes have increased the demand for skilled workers, which also had a direct impact on the households. Skilled workers got the chance to showcase their skills and expertise in their respective field. Globalization: - Globalization has made the market more competitive like never before. Globalization has mainly emphasized on the factors such as working flexibility, team work, multi tasking, and pay according to performance schemes. There are instances which depicts that globalization has either resulted in wage reduction or wage hike, that resulted into inequality among higher and lower skill levels. Thus with the wage factor it has also impacted on the common households. References Buhler, P., 2010. Human Resources Management: All the Information You Need to Manage Your Staff and Meet Your Business Objectives. Massachusetts: Adams Media. Cambridge Dictionaries Online, No Date. Industrial Relations. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 16 August 2012]. Chandramohan, A., 2008. Human Resource Management. New Delhi: APH Publishing. De Silva, S. R., No Date. Elements of a Sound Industrial Relations System. [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 16 August 2012]. Goudge, P., 2006. Employee Research: How to Increase Employee Involvement Through Consultation. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Rajendhiran, N., and Sundarrajan, S., 2010. Emerging Issues in Human Resource Management. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 16 August 2012]. U.S. Department of State, No Date. The Post War Economy: 1945-1960. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 16 August 2012]. Werner, J. M., and DeSimone, R. L., 2008. Human Resource Development. 5th ed. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Read More