Human Resource Management Goals and Objectives - Coursework Example

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) Name: Institution: Date: Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) Introduction Strategic human resource management is invaluable to the success of any organization. Strategic human resource management seeks to accomplish the long term goals of an organization using human resources available while ensuring that the objectives and goals of the organization are aligned with the available human capital in terms of skills, knowledge and abilities. Strategic Human resource management ensures that the human capital in the organization in terms of human resource is available and suitable to prevailing needs. There are various challenges facing strategic human resource management that have to be dealt with by the human resource manager before any success can be realized. This essay explores those challenges affect accomplishment of strategic human resource management and human resource management goals and objectives. It commences by defining the concept of strategic human resource management and goes ahead to describe challenges that human resource managers face. Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) Human resource management refers to the productive use of human resource in attaining strategic business objectives of an organization, as well as the satisfaction of individual needs of employees. Human resource management determines the success of use of human capital in any organization (Sudhir, 2005). Strategic Human Resource Management deals with connecting all Human Resource activities with the strategic objectives of an organization. The organizational values have to be reflected in the SHRM objectives. The human resource policies, objectives and plans have to be judged by how good they assist in achievement of strategic business objectives of an organization. Challenges facing a HR Manager The first challenge facing a human resource manager is Managing Workplace diversity. Diversity at the workplace comprises of; but is not confined to ethnicity, age, gender, ancestry, race, physical abilities, educational background, sexual orientation, income, geographical location, military experience, marital status, parental status, work experience and religious beliefs. The success of an organization in the future depends on the capacity of the human resource manager to manage diverse talents that result into creative ideas, views and perspectives to their work (Dekker, Rutte & Van den Berg, 2008). The problems and challenge as a result of diversity at the workplace can be turned into strategic asset if a firm is able to on the melting point of talent diversity. Having diversity of talents can place an organization in a position to respond aptly to opportunities in the market in a creative way (Armstrong, 2006). There is the challenge of integrating individual diversity with the organizational culture to ensure corporate uniformity. There is the challenge of human resource managers having to deal with a multigenerational workforce that has diverse needs that have to be met. Making everyone happy within the same environment across several generations is a challenging task for human resource managers. Baby boomers, traditionalists, Generation X and Generation Y have distinctive and varying characteristics at the workplace. While healthcare benefits may be very important for traditionalists, a fitness gym or entertainment allowance will be more exciting for the generation Y and X. it is challenging trying to keep everyone happy in the same working environment. In recent years Australia has witnessed an upsurge of women in the workforce (Metcalfe, 2008). Flexible work practices, childcare support and workplace culture has led to more women participation. There are older women being found at the workplace due to self fulfillment, financial pressure owing to global financial crisis and social relationships. Multinational companies have bigger challenges to deal with when it comes to workplace diversity. Human resource managers have to be thoroughly trained in ways of dealing with cultural diversity in order to successful integrate the workforce without making some workers feel isolated (Armstrong, 2006). There should be a corporate culture that all workers can identify with. Finding commonality among workers from different cultures and background is a difficult task for the human resource manager. Diversity within the workplace sometimes is a source of conflicts and observing that the needs of everyone are met is not easy. There are people who their religious beliefs or traditional beliefs come first before the corporate culture of the organization hence hindering development. Management of change is the second challenge that human resource managers face. Change is ever present in the modern business environment forcing companies to keep paces with such changes rapidly and constantly for the purpose of exploiting emerging opportunities in the market. Change can be in the form of right sizing, mergers and acquisitions, organizational restructuring, providing telecommuting opportunities for employees, or implementing outsourcing (Kapoor, 2011). Due to the rapid changing technology, organizations are forced to adopt new technologies in order to cope with competition in the market or face the imminence of being obsolete. The human resource manager has the challenge of overcoming change resistance by employees through convincing them and helping them to see the bigger picture through conceptualization. Change resistance is common owing to the uncertainty of unfamiliar paths that have to be explored (Dekker, Rutte & Van den Berg, 2008). The human resource manager has to ensure stability of processes and systems in the course of the change process. Employees have to be adequately equipped in order to deal with changed realities. Human resource professionals have the challenge of providing essential processes, structures, tools, and point of view in making the best selection and developing the future leaders within the organization. Human resource managers do not have to appear discriminatory when recommending promotion and other benefits. Economic globalization has escalated labour mobility making people to seek employment opportunities in any part of the world causing a challenge to human resource managers. Increased competition both in the local and international market prompts increased costs of hiring new staff and more expenses in making the workers happy and satisfied to avoid high rates of employee turnover (Brewster, Sparrow & Harris, 2006). Employee retention rate has to be high in order to ensure that the required skills and knowledge are preserved for the accomplishment of both strategic and short-term organizational objectives. The company can use a lot of many training its employees and later lose them to competitors owing to escalating demands of maintaining them in the organization. The process of recruitment and the cost of turnover can be very expensive for an organization. The hiring costs or costs for replacing an retired employee results into surging costs and this is made worse when the number of employees leaving the organization due to dissatisfaction or better working conditions elsewhere is factored in (Kapoor, 2011). Thirdly, the human resource managers have to balance between the organizational needs and individual needs of employees that cannot be ignored. The human resource manager is also faced with the challenge of integrating functional activities with the strategic goals of a company. This process involved adopting a bottom-line approach whereas making decisions or designing policies. The interest of the employees can be at cross-purpose with the organizational goals with regard to profitability. The human resource manager has to balance between the commercial imperatives of the organization as well as sincere concerns of employees (Okpara & Wynn, 2008). For example, whereas workers are used to pay for performance, the new reality is compensating employees according to the value they bring into the organization in terms of profitability in spite of degree of performance. Moreover, while trends are geared towards performance based tenures or contracts, workers want a stable plan and are used to time-based tenure that comes with many benefits including pensions, healthcare among others. Scarcity of talent has a great impact on strategic human resource management since a company might not meet its needs effectively. Getting the right people for the right job is not easy and human resource managers have to go great lengths to find people who are suitable to fill vacant positions. Increased competition means that organizations have to compete for the talent available leading to increase cost of recruiting and retention. Employees are ready to quit when they feel that their needs are not being met but it is not easy finding the right replacement due to scarcity of talent Furthermore, the costs of recruiting keep on increasing. Strategic Human resource management cannot meet the long term organizational goals of an organization if the required talent is not found and retained. Labour mobility has led to depletion of talent in the local market hence creating a problem for human resource management. Conclusion It is crucial for organizations to adopt a strategic approach when it comes to formulation of policies and strategies for the purpose of accomplishing organizational objectives and goals. The vision for human resource management has to be communicated within the values exhibited in the organization. The human resource manager has to ensure that the employee needs are met while ensuring that organizational objectives are not compromised. Challenges of human resource management influence recruitment and retention of employees in an organization. The human resource manager has the challenge of making sure that concerns of employees are addressed while pursuing the commercial goals of the business. Human resource manager face challenges in a world that is evolving rapidly and there are many emerging trends. Every organization has to be prepared to equip its employee to deal with emerging trends. References Armstrong, M. (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, London: Kogan Page Publishers. Brewster, C., Sparrow, P., & Harris, H. (2006). Towards a new model of globalizing HRM, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(6), 949–970. Dekker, D. M., Rutte, C. G., & Van den Berg, P. T. (2008). Cultural differences in the perception of critical interaction behaviors in global virtual teams, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 32: 441–452. Kapoor, B. (2011). Impact of globalization on human resource management, Journal of International Management Studies, 6(1): 1–8. Metcalfe, B. D. (2008). Women, management and globalization in the Middle East, Journal of Business Ethics, 83(1): 85–100. Okpara, J. O., & Wynn, P. (2008). Human resource management practices in a transition economy: Challenges and prospects, Management Research Review, 31(1), 57–76. Sudhir, R. (2005). Human Resource Management, New York: Discovery Publishing House. Read More