Strategic Human Resource Management - Assignment Example

Human Resource Management Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Human Resource Management Question One Most businesses may have HR departments to carry out HR functions and even those that lack or don't have a full-fledged HR department opt to outsource HR functions (Lawler & Boudreau, 2009). The major HR functions include: manpower planning that entails determining the possible number of future employees and qualifications required; analyzing the requirements of a given job and describing succinctly these jobs; determination of salaries and wages for the various positions in a company; recruitment and selection of employees in conjunction with managers; assessing and improving employees’ performance through performance appraisals; training and continuous development of employees to improve their efficiency; catering for the employee welfare including motivating them and addressing their grievances; managing employee relations; implementation of business policies together with line managers; and dismissal of unruly employees and elimination of redundancy (Regis, 2008). Some managers argue that HR is an ancillary function rather than a business function because the department does not take part in daily running of most business activities unless the company is an exclusive HR outsourcing company. This argument is also supported by small business that can only occasionally seek HR functions from a specialized HR organization when they need such services. To such businesses, HR only serves to subordinate their main business activity (Mayhew & Media, 2014). Question Two Some of the challenges that may face businesses and HR in the near future include a possible increase in difficulty in retaining and rewarding excellent employees (Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM], 2012). According to SHRM (2012), almost 59%of HR professionals are of the opinion that retaining the best employees will not be very easy. Due to the increasing competition among businesses, there is an equivalent increase in collaborative effort among employees in achieving company goals making it difficult to reward a few employees with real performance for fear of unhealthy competition among employees. Another possible future challenge for HR is developing and nurturing future leaders. This is attributed to the high turnover rate of top performing employees such that HR managers have a difficult time keeping these top performers in the organization (SHRM, 2012). Similarly, HR may be find it hard to establish health and unified corporate tradition in businesses due to continuous elevating market demands that exert more pressure on an otherwise healthy work culture resulting in office disagreements and clashes (SHRM, 2012). HR may also have to strive to attract excellent talent in their business due to the high demand for such talent by various organizations. Therefore, the HR may need to offer better compensation and opportunities for prospective employees and establish a convenient but productive work schedules (SHRM, 2012). Question Three and Four Sexual harassment at work is an unfortunate and demotivating experience for any employee of any given organization. It has been shown to demotivate, frustrate and lower the performance of affected employees. One of the companies that faced sexual harassment accusations was Ford, a motor manufacturing company that has manufacturing plants in areas such as Chicago, USA (Knight, 2014). The accusations were not new at Ford as "the company had been fined millions of dollars" before over previous incidents of sexual harassment against some female employees (Knight, 2014). According to Knight (2014) in an article written in Crain’s Chicago Business, the company was facing a lawsuit as from the 3rd of November 2014 over a “a pattern of sexual harassment and discrimination at the Chicago plant that spans more than one decade”. The suit was filed in Chicago’s US District Court. Four women, who were the plaintiffs in the suit had raised allegations that indecent and demeaning remarks were regularly directed at their sex, in addition, to been inappropriately touched. The latter included fondling and groping. The women also added that they had received several inappropriate requests to grant some senior individuals in the company sexual favors (Knight, 2014). Disparaging graffiti and images of pornography were said to have been explicitly and publicly displayed in some sections of Ford’s southern plant in Chicago. The plaintiffs were also threated by some staff members that they shall be assassinated if they back to work after the incidents. One of the plaintiffs who said she had, at one time, reported the heinous acts to her manager saw no reprieve as the managers simply ignored the allegations. This was not the first suit filed against Ford's assembly plant at Torrence Avenue as there was a previous suit lodged by the "U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission" over the same allegations (Knight, 2014). In the late 20th century, the company’s stamping plant in Chicago also faced similar accusations (Knight, 2014). These repeated lawsuits may imply that the company’s HR does not have effective policies and disciplinary measures against employees on such matters as sexual harassment. It may also mean that HR policies that are in place are not been implemented by the organization’s HR. This reputation for sexual harassment may present future challenges for the company’s HR when hiring and recruiting new staff. Top female candidates may be put off by the company’s repute and may settle for the company’s competitor. Since every company wants the best employees to work for them, this may progressively affect the company’s productivity. Question Five Some of the diversity initiatives in organization X include strategically deploying employees with the goal of fostering active involvement of female employees in the company’s activities to enhance sex diversification. Moreover, the company also prolongs the employment period of older staffs so that the company may have an appropriate blend of the young and old staff. The program is labelled a re-employment program, and it enables older employees to offer guidance and assistance to inexperienced young employees as the latter are prepared to be reliable future company leaders or employees. The company's recruitment and selection policies dictate that the company take up at least 7% of its employees from a multiplicity of nations. Therefore, the company has an initiative in which staffs working for the company's branches overseas are taken up by branches in different nations that cultivate a mixture of race and ethnicity. The diversity is of value to the company as it enable the company to have varied experience and personalities among employees that allow employees to be used to working efficiently with different members to enhance productivity. In addition, diversity is enshrined in most government laws especial labor laws that require employers to be non-discriminatory to prospective employees during recruitment and selection. It saves the company possible lawsuits over acts of discrimination. Question Six Some desk-based office jobs that entail a lot of paperwork or use of a personal computer, or jobs such as customer services, and telesales may be carried out by employees from their respective homes. Such jobs allow employees to work flexibly as they balance between social life and work. This may have advantages such as saving cost as the employee shall not have to commute to work daily; the employee may also have freedom in flexing their working hours in accordance with their other social or family responsibilities; and according the employee a more peaceful and comfortable working environment. To the business, working from home may have advantages such as increase in productivity as employees may work for longer hours at their comfort, employees become more loyal and motivated, attracting more potential candidates for recruitment, and reducing the cost of acquiring resources such as office space and furniture. However, home working may not be an appealing idea for some employees who thrive better in an office environment. In addition, a possible impact on the spirit of working as a team and the company's traditions should be considered as working from home may risk losing such. It may also require adjustments in HR policies to incorporate the changes that come with working from home and keeping track of employees' work. A trial period may be suitable before fully adopting the program. Question Seven The demand for labour in Company X is dependent on the demand for the products it produces. After release of a new product and an extensive promotion and marketing campaign, the reception for the product by consumers may be excellent requiring increased production of that particular product. The latter will consequently lead to a demand for more people to facilitate and the increased production. This is called derived demand (Abbott, 2011). Acquisition of new robotic technology replaces some human functions causing a decrease in demand for labour that was meant for these functions. Supply of labour in the company is influenced by factors such as the wage rates, working age, social factors, population size and the educational requirement of a job. More workers are attracted to a company that pays relatively higher for a given job. Expanding the working age for a job such as lowering the entry age or prolonging the retirement age will attract more labor. Campaigns encouraging women to compete equally for job opportunities with men can increase the number of women applying for jobs hence increasing the supply of labour. An increase in or decrease in population around the vicinity of the company will increase or decrease the supply of labour respectively. Lastly, educational requirement of the job will determine the supply of labour since jobs requiring specialised training and high qualifications attract less labour compared less specialised jobs. References Abbott, L. (2011). Theories of the labour market and employment: A review. Manchester: Industrial System Research. Knight, M. (2014, November 03). Ford faces lawsuit over sexual harassment charges at Chicago plant. Retrieved from CRAIN's Chicago Business: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20141103/NEWS05/141109981/ford-faces-lawsuit-over-sexual-harassment-charges-at-chicago-plant Lawler, E.E. & Boudreau, J.W. (2009). Achieving excellence in human resource functions: An assessment of human resource functions. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Mayhew, R. & Media, D. (2014). Six main functions of a human resource department. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/six-main-functions-human-resource-department-60693.html Regis, R. (2008). Strategic human resource management and development. New Delhi: Anurag Jain. Society for Human Resource Management. (2012). Future HR challenges and talent management tactics. Alexandria, VA: SHRM. Read More