Changing International Business Environment - Essay Example

Issues Facing Human Resource Management in the Changing International Business Environment Introduction Thispurpose of this paper is to examine various challenges facing human resource management in the changing business environment. The study will focus on three specific issues and establish the challenges that they have caused to the organizations human resource personnel. Human resource management (HRM) plays a critical role in the success of an organisation because the competence of workers determines its performance.1 The Globalisation and technological changes have contributed intensely to the new business environment. The modern business world is undergoing rapid changes characterised by the emergence of new enterprises, intensification of global competition and the growth of the diverse workforce.2 These pressures are compelling companies to reposition themselves strategically to attract and retain the competent workforce. Management of human resources is intricate and challenging because workers have personal needs, objectives, motivations, interests and desires that conflict with business goals. HR management and planning is a useful tool for reconciling these conflicts and ensuring that organizations resources are utilized effectively.3 Today, human resource managers are faced with issues such as management of diversity, globalisation and work life balance. HR practitioners play a critical role in an organisation to ensure effective acquisition and utilisation of HR. They are tasked with creating and implementing policies for guiding human resource in an organization, controlling HR programmes and guidelines, offering advice and counsel to the workers, and perform other functions that can assist line managers to execute their duties.4 However, in the execution of their duties the HR practitioners encounter innumerable challenges in the modern world. Work-life Balance In the modern society, most families in developed countries such as UK have joined the labour force. In circumstances when husband and wife are both in the working class, the human resource managers are faced with a challenge of helping such parents with work-life balance programs to increase their productivity.5 Therefore, it makes sense for the company’s human resource to come up with programmes to assist workers establish a balance between work and family responsibilities. The HR can implement programmes to assist workers achieve their family obligations. For example, programmes such as child care at the workplace, sick leave policies, job sharing education policies, picking or dropping their children at school, etc. For example, Unilever company offer employee training programmes to help employees advance their careers and achieve self-actualisation.6 Also, they offer counselling programs and assist workers solve personal issues and achieve to have a healthy living. Managing Diversity The workplace diverse occurs in various dimensions such as gender, race, education background, ethnicity, age, physical abilities, geographical location, sexual orientation, marital status, work experience, parental status and religious beliefs.7 Effective management of diversity in the workplace is essential for effective performance because it brings workforce synergies for effective performance. However, the management of diversity has many challenges including integration corporate culture with diversity and individual compassions and incorporating global culture into domestic labour regulations.8 Globalization has resulted in the movement of workers to different countries to seek for employment.9 Also, the once local organizational have extended their operations to cross-border countries because they view the global economy as a single market with better potential for expanding business operations. These have increased the pool of competent workers to the organisations from which they can choose the most competent staff to deliver the organisational performance.10 However, the diverse workforce has its advantage and disadvantages. Although employers have capitalised on the innovativeness of diverse workforce managing such diversity has become a great challenge to the organisations. People with diverse socio-economic background have different perceptions and beliefs towards the organisational culture. These values and believes affects the overall performance, employee satisfaction and longevity at the workplace, etc.11 Managers should device different styles of dealing with the employees to promote performance. Every company has its corporate culture that determines the power sharing protocol within the organisation, communication procedure, problem-solving techniques, etc.12 However, in some instance the business corporate culture may conflict with the local culture of the region where the business has its operations. In such a case, the business operations will be affected significantly unless the management has expertise in the management of diversity. For example, “the transnational companies with Western origin have an individualistic culture that leads them to the decision-making process.”13 On the other hand, the Eastern culture encourages collectivism in decision-making approach. Therefore, a multinational company with operations in Western and Eastern market experience issues when making a decision or when solving a dispute.14 They have to adopt different corporate culture for different companies based. For example, Unilever Company has experienced challenges with the management of diversity in Asia, which has resulted to slow decision-making process.15 The challenge has been contributed by cultural differences with Eastern region favouring teamwork or collectivism while the Unilever was established and operated under British Culture of individualism. The diversity of the workforce brings about various challenges to the HR Functions such as motivational approaches for various groups, training and retention of employees.16 The organisation has to adjust to new approaches continuously because the ancient methods may become inapplicable to the current workforce.17 Furthermore, a single style may not achieve the organisational goals since it does not apply uniformly to all persons involved. Globalisation Globalisation refers to expansion away from national borders. Globalisation involves economic and political aspects resulting to the denationalisation of legal systems, market and politics. Globalisation has affected HR functions in organisations due to changing labour laws, employees’ attitudes, languages, work ethics, management approaches, competitions, practices, etc.18 Globalisation has caused challenges to the HR because they have to adopt techniques that can accommodate the changes in the international market. Also, it has exposed organisations to stiff competition. The HR personnel must focus on acquiring the most competent personnel to enable the organisations compete effectively and efficiently.19 However, the HR department has to be strategic to avoid the high rate of labour turnover as employees leave the company to secure a better job in other organizations. For example, the Unilever Company offers online training programs for the employees to meet the organisational needs in a global perspective.20 Therefore, HR personnel have the problem of acquiring and retaining the most competent employees for their organisations. Conclusion The changes that have taken place across the globe have influenced the operational strategies of the organizations. HR personnel encounters various problems as they strive to place themselves strategically to achieve the organizational goals. The changing demographics of the workforce, employees awareness, desire for flexible jobs increasing global competition and growing conflicts between corporate culture and diverse employees culture are some of the of the causes of HR challenges in an organisation. They should determine effective approaches to managing the diversity of the workforce develop strategies to attract and retain competent workforce and establish the programmes to assist workers in balancing work and life. The HR is the central nerves of organisational competencies hence the HR personnel must strive to overcome the challenges in the modern day workplace to enable the organizations achieve their objectives. Bibliography Centre For Business, Challenges facing 21st Century HR Managers, Retrieved 5 June 2015 Kramar, R., and Syed, J., Human Resource Management in a Global Context: A Critical Approach, UK, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Lerbinger, O., The Global Manager: Contemporary Issues and Corporate Responses, 8th Edn. UK, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Unilever, Working At Unilever, 2015, Retrieved 5 June 2015, Read More