HR Practices: Strategic Challenges - Assignment Example

HR Practices Do you think the HR practices will support the way Netflix might need to respond to strategic challenges that it will face in the next 2 years? The case facts, as can be observed with respect to the current position of Netflix, indicates that the organisation uses its HR practices relying heavily on recruiting employees who already possess the required skills and knowledge; thus, keeping its training costs low and under control. Recruitment strategies are conducted by Netflix, on the basis of the employees’ dedication towards the company and their job responsibilities.

Withdrawing from applying the “traditional HR mind-set”, Netflix’ HR strategies aim at ensuring greater degree of responsibility sharing amid individuals that in turn can facilitate innovation with high degree of professionalism amid its workforce and simultaneously, make its business culture more flexible to the potential changes likely to be arising in the near future. This HR practice also helps the employees in Netflix develop their skills continuously and in an independent manner (McConnell, 2005).

On contrary, the HR practices of Netflix raise questions related to the needs and potentials of training and development. According to the leadership notions being applied in Netflix, training and development strategies are often much cost expensive as well as time consuming, which also fails to guarantee long term productivity from the employees. While this particular HR practice might help the company to avoid potential risks of no return from training costs, it also limits the organisation’s efficiency in ensuring that organisational objectives are adequately communicable to the workforce.

It also increases risks of workplace conflicts due to the excessively centralised decision making technique of Netflix (Wiseman & Hunt, 2013). Having learning and development practices integrated to HR policies helps raising the working standards and creating a positive relationship between the employees and the company, which is currently being ignored by Netflix (Mayo, 2004; Mabey et.al 1998). Contextually, Focus on recruiting only ‘A’ players might increase the short-run productivity for the company, but retaining these employees shall demand continuous assessment of its business model to facilitate them with adequate growth prospects besides reducing the percentage of available human resources for the company.

Netflix should not overlook the advantages of traditional HR practices those emphasise learning and development on a continuous basis (McCord, 2014). It can therefore be noted in this context, after studying both the pros and cons of HR practices in Netflix that these strategies will not be able to provide adequate support to overcome the likely challenges Netflix has to face in the next two years. References Mabey, C.et.al. (1998). Experiencing human resource management. London: SAGE. Mayo, A. (2004). Creating a learning and development strategy: The HR business partners guide to developing people.

UK: CIPD Publishing. McConnell, J. H. (2005). How to develop essential HR policies and procedures, volume 1. USA: Amacom Div American Mgmt Assn. McCord, P. (2014). How Netflix reinvented HR. Harvard Business Review 71-76. Wiseman, D. G. & Hunt, G. H. (2013). Best practice in motivation and management in the classroom. Springfield: Charles C Thomas Publisher.