Perceptions of Human Resource Management - Essay Example

?Review of academic journal articles Human resource professionals assume a key role in the organization. They are placed in such position that their strategies, policies and activities directly influence everybody in the hierarchy of the organization structure. “Human resource managers have the tools and the opportunity to leverage employee commitment to, and engagement in, the firm’s CSR strategy” (Strandberg Consulting, 2009). That is why, they are called as the managers of human resource. In this paper, two articles that discuss some aspects of human resource professionals have been reviewed. Review of the first article Human resource management is thought of as a recent development which is directed at reshaping the relationships of employees. It can be considered as a tool that has replaced the conventional traditions in the field of management like industrial relations and personnel management. Human resource management is an evolving field that tackles complexities in the organizations. Human resource management is characterized as hard or soft because of its association with the business performance and strategy that has caused a thematic divide between the practices grounded in conventional methods such as personnel management and the modern management of human resource. Ivo (2006) wrote an article to explore the best perspectives about the field of human resource management. In the first section of the article, the author has made an attempt to generate a holistic understanding of the field of human resource management on the basis of various perspectives in management. The author has fundamentally identified three systems of management to achieve this, namely closed or scientific management, semi open system or human relations, and the contingency system or the open system. In the second section, the author has tried to interpret human resource management in the form of a framework by thinking of it as a style. This interpretation makes it easy to perceive the hard and soft type of human resource management stylized as the utilitarian instrumentalism and developmental humanism respectively. The second section basically discusses human resource management in terms of a new discipline of management, a restatement of personnel management, a strategic function or a management discipline that is resource based. In the third section, the author has assessed the effect of human resource management upon the strategy, performance and outcome with the help of the Michigan, Harvard, Choice and Guest models. The author highlights the merits of the Choice model for effective management of human resource. The fourth section considers senior manager in the role of a choice maker. To achieve this, the author has made use of the Japanese model of human resource management. The fifth section constitutes the conclusion in which the author has recapitulated the use of human resource management in the contemporary market as advocated by the literature. For the purpose of understanding the perceptions of human resource management, the researcher has primarily conducted a comprehensive literature review in which, he has studied and compared the findings of past researches. Finally, the author has summarized the research findings. The field of human resource management is very wide and researchers need to explore various aspects of it in order to generate a sound understanding for use by human resource professionals. Although the effects of human resource management on employment and value creation have been sufficiently studied, there is little knowledge about the characteristics and developmental strategies of human resource management. The findings of research conducted by Ivo (2006) are very useful for the IHRM practice in the real world. The author has particularly placed huge emphasis on the comparison between human resource management and the conventional management practices that have been in place for decades like personnel management. Obtaining correct understanding of human resource management is the most crucial stage in the development of any kind of management model. The Choice Model, if correctly developed and effectively implemented, is conducive for better organizational working in context of the increasingly global and multi-cultural work environment of the contemporary age. It is important to study the perceptions about human resource management because this is a kind of management that is fundamentally linked with the wellbeing of people that make part of an organization. Since the evolution of human resource management, there has been a considerable improvement in the general management and supervision of the workforce. Comparison between human resource management and tradition ways of management will lead useful information for improving the ways adopted by the modern human resource professionals. Review of the second article In this article, Plessis, Beaver, and Nel (2006) have explored the thoughts of human resource professionals on the future trends that will be followed in the businesses in New Zealand. The authors have also assessed the need for altering the personal capabilities and competencies of the human resource professionals so that they may support the competitive endeavors of future businesses in New Zealand. Human resource professionals have to put in a lot of effort in order to manage the change in organizations as well as the workforce diversity in the global environment. The authors conducted a thorough review of literature to find the stance of past researchers on the subject. The collection of secondary data was followed by the collection of primary data by means of comprehensive HRM questionnaire based on a total of 358 items. This questionnaire was already used before by other researchers. For this research, the original questionnaire was slightly modified in order to make it shorter in length and more convenient for the respondents. The researchers distributed 1510 questionnaires to the HRINZ members in New Zealand. To gain an adequate idea of the perceptions of the individual respondents, a five point likert scale was used with “1” indicating “highly dissatisfied” and “5” indicating “very satisfied”. The research mainly suggested that an organization’s approach to conduct business is significantly affected by the change, multiculturalism, and diversity. Five existing competencies, capabilities and business practices of the human resource professionals in New Zealand have been prioritized for the year 2000 along with some trends for the year 2010 that are necessary for the achievement of competitive advantage. The researchers found that human resource professionals in New Zealand place great emphasis upon the management of change, computer literacy and international experience. The human resource professionals, were, however, not found to be quite interested in the organizational leadership and they also did not feel a strong need to communicate in the workplace in foreign languages. The changing business environment has raised serious implications for the human resource professionals particularly with respect to international competition. The research has led the authors to the conclusion that organizations should develop a link between business strategies and the competencies of human resource professionals in order to gain competitive advantage in New Zealand. The organizations also need to improve their sensitivity towards both external and internal changes as well as the requirements of diverse workforce. This article provides an in-sight to the human resource professionals’ perceptions of the existing and estimated future trends in New Zealand organizations. The suggestions made by the authors are of great value for the human resource professionals as well as business entrepreneurs that intend to conduct business in the coming decade. Both articles reviewed in this paper have their own respective significance in the promotion of multiculturalism and globalization in the organization. The first article conducts a detailed review of literature to understand human resource management as a field and draw a comparison between this and the conventional approaches towards the management of organizational personnel while the second article estimates the trends of human resource professionals in the organizations in New Zealand in the near future. Sound management of human resource is of great importance not only for the organizational personnel but also for the society as a whole. Adequate human resource management inculcates a sense of dignity in the workforce. Workers derive psychological satisfaction from the improved work environment. It benefits the society by maintaining a balance between the numbers of candidates the jobs. Implementation of change in an organizational setup is one of the most difficult tasks to accomplish. Even if the change is implemented, it may take it years to improve the efficiency of an organization. However, human resource professionals assume the power to accelerate this process and make the implementation of change effective. Multiculturalism comes with globalization. The rate of spread of globalization in the past few decades indicates that the biggest key to success and attainment of competitive advantage in the future is the degree to which the requirements of multiculturalism in the workplace are satisfied. The global leadership model, as the name indicates, emphasis upon the development of globally competitive and competent leaders. This can not be achieved unless the traits of multiculturalism are inculcated in the leadership and the human resource professionals understand the significance of communicating in the workplace in the foreign languages. Encouraging inculcation of multicultural traits in the leaders as well as human resource professionals is not only conducive for better operation and efficiency of the organization, but is also a potential means of promoting globalization and universal brotherhood. References: Heathfield, S. M. (2011). Motivation Is All About the Managers...Duh!: Employee Attitudes Rule When Managers Understand Motivation. Retrieved from http://humanresources.about.com/od/motivationsuccess/a/managers_duh.htm. Ivo, A. M. (2006). Best Perspectives to Human Resource Management. African Centre for Community and Development. Retrieved from http://www.africancentreforcommunity.com/articles-Dateien/Best%20Perspectives%20to%20human%20resource%20management%20by%20Arrey%20Mbongaya%20Ivo.pdf. Plessis, A. J., Beaver, B., and Nel, P. S. (2006). Closing The Gap Between Current Capabilities And Future Requirements In Human Resource Management In New Zealand: Some Empirical Evidence. Journal of Global Business and Technology. 2(1): 33-47. Retrieved from http://www.gbata.com/docs/jgbat/v2n1/v2n1p4.pdf. Strandberg Consulting. (2009). The role of human resource management in corporate social responsibility: Issue brief and roadmap. Retrieved from http://corostrandberg.com/wp-content/uploads/files/CSR_and_HR_Management1.pdf. Read More