How Has the Role of HRM Changed in Recent Years - Essay Example

? HR Questions HR Questions Q1- How has the role of HRM changed in recent years? Discuss threetrends that are changing the HRM function. Why have these roles changed? Quality discerns and availability of talented workforce has always posed itself as a complex challenge for human resource management. Organizations have actually embarked a great deal of changes and expectations from the work force, which has quickened the role of HRM. Three tends that are changing the function of HRM are change management, strategic planning and training and management. These roles have relatively changed a great deal because of economic and technological changes, diversity and increasing demographics and organizational restructuring. For instance, considering socio-political polices which were considered as non-central to HRM are now doing strategic planning. Similarly, change management has to be undertaken by carefully allocating diversity within the organizations as people from different backgrounds and nationalities have become part of organizations. Q2- Describe the differences between internal equity comparisons and external equity comparisons, and explain their consequences on the organization. External equity comparisons are one, when an employer decides to pay wages to his or her work force according to the pay rates implemented by other employers in the market place. For this reason, employers are expected to measure the labor markets to get an idea of how he or she will have to design wage plan. On the other hand, internal equity comparisons occur when an employer decides to pay wages to the employees, according to the nature of job, i.e. the more the work performed by a worker, the more wages he or she will earn. External equity comparisons may result in higher wages being paid to the employees, even if they have not put sufficient input in performing their assigned jobs. Whereas, internal equity comparisons create an environment, where the employer and employees both have fair portion of the money they earn for their efforts at work place. Q3- Discuss comparable worth by (1) defining it and (2) citing four potential problems in its implementation. Comparable worth is an idea, which entails that each worker should receive equal wages, regardless of the gender. Comparable worth is also known as pay equity and it allows an employer to pay equal amounts to different job titles according to their worth for the employer. The biggest problem with comparable worth is that the jobs performed by female workers are usually undervalued or do not have significant impact on the operational capacity of the organization. Moreover, implementing such systems would cause disturbance among male workers, as they will be performing tougher tasks and receiving the same amount as women. Male workers might also raise their voice against this gender discrimination. From social perspective, the individuals might also see it as an act of inequality and denial to the idea that every individual should be treated equally, regardless of the gender. Q4- Describe five reasons why merit pay programs may not help organizations increase their overall productivity. Q5- What are some issues of procedural justice that might arise in administering merit pay? In any company setup where rewards are offered by the management to employees they tend to assess these rewards on the basis of two distinct dimensions, which are namely distributive and procedural. Distributive dimension is related to the evaluation of the value of reward they have received; whereas procedural dimension is related to the assessment of the process, which is adopted by the management to decide the value of reward. Important aspects of procedural justice that may arise in administering merit pay may include 1) whether the manager or supervisor performs his duties ethically 2) whether the manager allow opportunity to employees to express their viewpoints and actually takes them into consideration 3) whether uniform standards are being followed 4) whether the supervisor provides feedback on performance of employees and assists them in improving 5) whether the supervisor is fair in his decision and 6) whether supervisor takes into consideration those factors which have impact on employees performance but are beyond their control. Q6- Although benefits are considered a part of total compensation, benefits have unique aspects that make them quite different from direct compensation. What are those aspects?   Benefits are more unique to employees than the basic compensation package because they are more in a form of value to the productivity of employees. Compensation can be considered as a payment of the productivity of employees but benefits are additional inclusion by employers to the employee account. These can be holiday bonus, life insurance, allowances etc. These are unique as they are considered as token of appreciation by the employer. Employees are completely aware of the fact that benefits are more expensive for the employers to provide. Thus, benefits can be considered as more valued and unique than basic compensation package. Q7- What evidence exists to support the argument that employers are not effectively communicating benefit programs to employees? What would you suggest doing to improve communication? There is an ongoing debate regarding the communication between employee and managers about benefits program. It is mainly because there are a number of evidences that have proven employee and manager communication to be ineffective regarding benefits. Under Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a large number of organizations have not used of booklets of benefits for employee. The manager should communicate considering the example of a young employee who has no desire of a life insurance plan in a convincing manner because it is highly significant for individuals. In order to regulate effective communication between managers and employees, it is suggested that special presentations are prepared for benefits. Also, the company should also publish handbooks of benefits for employees. Q8- Describe the various goals and strategies of labor unions toward society, toward management and toward labor unions themselves. Labor unions collaborate with societies in order to fight against the corruption of industrialists and rich. Labor unions communicate the corruptions committed by their employers and evoke the society to raise its voice against the corruption. ?Labor unions work for the improvement of lifestyle of labor force of an organization or industry. These labor unions not only fight for the rights of workers. The workers themselves through voting elect a labor union. Labor unions possess a proper hierarchy, which is headed by Labor Union’s head. This platform gathers employees’ suggestions and complains, and communicates these suggestions and complains to the management. If the management decides to address these suggestions and complains improperly the labor union then fights for the rights of workers. Q9- How might increased globalization of markets potentially affect unionization rates in the United States? It is generally accepted that with increase in globalization there is significant impact on union density however it is also dependent upon other factors, which affect the accessibility of unions to the workplace and concentration of bargaining, by unions. In the US, the level of union density is at low levels and it is considered by researchers that globalization has no significant impact on it. The unionization rates in the US have been declining despite of the increased market integration. This is considered a fact by many because of the pressure that is imposed by repressive attitude of owners, which has direct implications on available of work and compensation. Due to increased cross border activity and increased FDI into the US economy has affected the bargaining power of unions and have surely raised labor demand elasticities. Q10 - Name and discuss the four factors that affect HRM in global markets. Which of them do you think is the most important factor and why?   There are four factors have been identified which have significant impact on HRM in global market. These include (1) Culture (2) Economic System (3) Political System – the legal framework and (4) Human capital. Out of these four factors I understand that human capital is considered to be the most important factor. In my opinion human capital, which refers to the skills, knowledge, strengths, and competencies of the labor available in any country, can be considered as a source of competitive advantage for countries. Existence of competency-based human capital in any country attracts companies to enter into the market to take advantage. This is the case in India and China, which have recently emerged as economic powerhouses mainly lead by the presence of abundant talented and skillful human capital. Read More