Challenges in Human Resource Management - Essay Example

Challenges in Human Resource Management Name Institution Date Introduction Business today can not effectively operate in the modern world if the workforce is not adequately equipped with the modern technology and practices (Hashim & Hameed, 2012). It is the responsibility of the human resource manager to effectively train the existing workforce in the organization and to see what the human resources need to achieve the competitive advantage of the organization (Srivastava & Agarwal, 2012). However, due to changes in the business environment, such as globalization, workforce diversity, changes in technology and information technology, as well as changes in political and legal environment, HR manager facing a lot of challenge in managing workforce in a way that help organizations achieve their business strategies. Also, these challenges make it problematic for HR managers to attract, retain and develop high skilled employees (Srivastava & Agarwal, 2012). This article will discuss how these challenges affect the HR management and how HR managers can assist organisations achieve their business strategies through implementing talent attraction, selection, and retention and performance management. Globalization Globalization involves movement toward a world economy that is more integrated and interdependent. It is an extension of similar market forces beyond national boundaries that have operated for many years at all levels of human economic activity (Srivastava & Agarwal, 2012, p.46). Globalization has made the world trade and financial markets to be more integrated. This has had great impact on HRM due to problems related to unfamiliar laws, practices, attitudes, languages, work ethics, competitions, management styles among others. This implies that HR managers have a challenge to handle more heterogeneous functions and increased involvement in personal life of employees (Alnaqbi, 2011). The biggest challenge about globalization is that it leads to expatriates who bring with them their culture (Alnaqbi, 2011). Globalization not only causes changes in technology, but also in the organization culture. Managing this cultural diversity is a seen as a threat by HR managers and remains a strategic issues HR managers have to face and manage it properly. According to (De Cieri & Kramar, 2008) globalization has greatly influenced many organizations, with many implications for HRM. Employment, especially in developed economies is increasingly insecure because continued employment and retention level are less predictable and depend on factors that are beyond the control of employees. Generally, globalization promotes and increases international competitiveness due to changes in strategy, working systems, technology, and management styles, which complicates the function of HR managers. Workforce diversity Workforce diversification is another HRM challenge. HR managers have a challenge of effectively managing organization’s workforce that is characterized by different dimensions of background, such as gender, age, race, sexual orientation, geographical location, religious beliefs, education background and many others (Hashim & Hameed, 2012). For an organization to be successful in future, it has to effectively manage a diverse body of talent that can help bring into the organization new ideas, perspectives and views. Although workforce diversity has challenges and problems, these challenges can be converted into a strategic organizational asset (De Cieri & Kramar, 2008). However, this depends of the ability of the HR manager to capitalize on this great pool of diverse talents. With existence of diverse talents, an organization should be able to respond more rapidly and creatively to business opportunities, and this is one of the goals of the organization HR managers, must seek to attain (Narkhede & Joshi, 2007). It is even more challenging to HR managers if the environment in the organization does not support diversity because the organization can easily lose talent to competitors. The issue of workforce diversity is more experienced in multinational companies (MNC’s) since they have are global and employ individuals of not only different countries, but also of different ethical and cultural orientations (Narkhede & Joshi, 2007). This means that a HR manager has to be mindful of these cultural differences and develop an appropriate approach to manage employees in the organization. Consequently, local HR managers need to undergo training in cultural issues to increase their abilities to effectively manage employees that are highly qualified and have cultural differences (Srivastava & Agarwal, 2012). Also, the HR manager must assure local employees that their career advancement will not be compromised due to existence of foreign talents in the organization. In fact, to effectively manage workforce diversity, HR managers must skilful balance the needs of all employees (Hashim & Hameed, 2012). Technological advances Technology is yet another HRM challenge in many organizations today. Technology is the ways and methods with which people live and work (Hashim & Hameed, 2012). Advancement in information technology has changed many things even in organizations. This concerns ideas and information which are important for economic growth. Unlike other assets which are physically owned, human resources, despite being an essential asset, does not have true ownership (Hashim & Hameed, 2012). This means that it is very challenging to develop and retain human resources in the organization. Thus, HR managers have a challenge of creating an environment which encourages employees to stay in the organization and contribute to achievement of organizational goals and objectives. According to Srivastava and Agarwal (2012) it is challenging to adapt the workplace to intensive technological changes, especially when it influences the nature of work and leads to obsolescence. Advanced technology has tried to create a situation of moving from touch labour to knowledge work in many organizations. In other words, it reduces the number of jobs done by less skilled employees and increases the number of jobs done by employees with more skills. This situation demands that organizations change their technology, which leads to reduction in employment opportunities. New technology also creates scarcity of skilled workforce (Srivastava & Agarwal, 2012). In this way, technology brings challenges in the organization, especially to HR managers. Given that HR managers are responsible of ensuring the organization has adequate human resources with relevant skills, it becomes a big challenge for them to attract and retain quality workforce whenever a new technology is introduced. Changes in political and legal environments Another HRM challenge is changes in political and legal environment. It means changes in political parties and in rules and regulation governing the nation. Normally, changes in legal environment brings into existence new laws which organizations have to follow while doing business (Srivastava & Agarwal, 2012). Many changes occur in both political and legal framework within which the system of industrial relation in the country functions. Some of the changes may be related to the functions of HR managers they perform in the organization (De Cieri & Kramar, 2008). When this occurs, HR managers have to work closely with industrial executives to evaluate the implication of the changes so to make appropriate changes within the organization, which in turn would help utilize human resources fully. In addition, HR managers must anticipate the change in political and legal environment and prepare organization to encounter them without affecting the normal functioning of the organization (Srivastava & Agarwal, 2012). Contemporary HRM issues The fact that HR managers experience the above challenges it does not mean that they have to sit and just watch. It is important for them to ensure that they help organizations achieve their business goals and objectives. There are different contemporary HRM strategies, systems and process, such as work design, rewards management, employee attraction, selection and retention, employee development and performance management which HR managers can implement so that they can achieve this goal (De Cieri & Kramar, 2008). For purposes of this article, we shall consider talent attraction, selection and retention and performance management. Talent attraction, selection and retention HR managers have the responsibility to ensure that the organization has the right talent (Hengky, 2013). The ability of HR managers to attract, recruit and retain the right talent helps the organization to achieve its objectives. They must ensure there is adequate workforce with relevant skills and knowledge to help organizations achieve a competitive advantage (Lievens & Chapman, 2010). This is to the realization that an organization that effectively manages its workforce is likely to grow and prosper than organizations that fail to forecast and plan its human resources well. Recruitment is a process that involves sourcing candidates to fill the existing job vacant in the organization and inducing them to apply. Selection, on the other hand, is the process where HR managers identify the most appropriate candidate for a job (Lievens & Chapman, 2010). Once, employed in the organization, the HR manager should ensure that stay and work to improve the performance of the organization. Thus, through recruitment and selection, HR managers should be able to cost-effectively detect, attract and select people who can optimally help the organization achieve its business strategies (De Cieri & Kramar, 2008). In particular, to achieve organization’s business strategies through recruitment and selection, HR managers can shorten the process. This will enable the organization to gain the opportunity window which created the need for the existing position and get the best applicants faster who can immediately take over the jobs and begin to contribute to organization’s operations (Lievens & Chapman, 2010). HR managers can also use the recruitment and selection processes as opportunity to reward an exceptionally performing employees so that they can exercise their potential in new positions (Itika, 2011). Alternatively, they can use this opportunity to introduce new skills and perspectives to new employees, especially external recruit. Importantly, HR managers must ensure they maximize the performance of their organizations by attracting, selecting, motivating and retaining the best applicants possible (De Cieri & Kramar, 2008). As Itika (2011) argues, HR managers should ensure that clear concerning the type of workforce they are interested with. This is because lack of clarity in attracting, selecting and retaining employees is likely to result in wrong people being recruited for the job. Performance management HR managers can as well assist organizations achieve their strategic goals and objectives through implementing performance management process. Performance management is meant to achieve better results from employees, teams and the organization through management of performance within an identified framework that is based on agreed goals, standards and competence requirements (Itika, 2011). According to goal setting theory, employees in the organization are motivated to achieve better outcomes if they participate in setting goals and objectives. In addition, they should have a benchmark from previous performance objectives so they can make comparison with expected performance (Alnaqbi, 2011). This implies that HR managers need to motivate employees so that performance management efforts can lead to improvement in organizational performance. Organizations use performance management to see to it that employees’ activities and outcomes match with its goals (Hengky, 2013). However, this can only be achieved if HR managers can focus on planning and improving future performance and not simply concentrating on retrospective performance appraisal (De Cieri & Kramar, 2008). Also, HR managers should work in partnership with employees within agreed framework for performance to achieve the desired organizational results. Even when working in partnership with employees, HR managers need to clearly understand how they can use performance appraisal to achieve organizational business strategies (Alnaqbi, 2011). Ideally, the appraisal process should always be use as feedback to employees as this will help influence and improve employees’ future performance. Through performance management, HR managers should be able to set individual and organizational goals and objectives by identifying employees’ strengths and weaknesses trough employee appraisal (Hengky, 2013). This will ease regular review of the performance of employees and detection of areas for improvement. Also, HR managers can use performance management process to establish a basis for allocating organizational resources by taking into consideration factors, such as set targets, activities, outputs and outcomes (Itika, 2011). Thus, the organization can effectively utilize its limited resources through this process. Generally, HR managers should treat performance management as a collective responsibility of both management and employees to ensure continuous performance in activities and jobs that are agreed upon to help organizations achieve their business strategies. Conclusion Conclusively, HRM practice continues to be a more challenge in organizations in the modern world. Consequently, HR managers have to encounter various challenges that associated with attraction and retention of employee, globalization, managing workforce diversity, technological changes, and adapting to changes in political and legal environments. These challenges affect the performance of HR professionals and in turn may prevent organizations from achieving their goals and objectives. Also, the article indicates that HR mangers can assist organizations achieve their business strategies by making sure they attract, select, and retain the best applicants possible. Still, they can achieve this through performance management which has to be conducted in partnership with all employees. References Alnaqbi, W. (2011). The relationship between human resource practices and employee retention in public organisations: an exploratory study conducted in the United Arab Emirates. De Cieri, H., & Kramar, R. (2008). Human resource management in Australia: Strategy people performance (3rd ed.). Sydney: McGraw Hill Australia Pty Limited. Hashim, M., & Hameed, F. (2012). Human Resource Management in 21st Century: Issues & Challenges & Possible Solutions to Attain Competitiveness. 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