Ways Managers Can Deal With the Key Challenges of People Management - Assignment Example

Client inserts his/her name Client inserts tutor’s name Name of Institution Course title Date of submission Ways managers can deal with the key challenges of people management in contemporary organizations Introduction People management has become one of the issues that have been given much weight in today’s workplaces, especially in the business field. Researchers argue that globalization is taking place at a speeding rate and it has impacted upon all aspects of organizations including human resource management. Globalization has brought about various changes in enterprises and this has greatly affected human management as it has to keep pace with the various changes taking place. This paper aims to discuss the various reasons as to why people management has become a constant issue in today’s workplaces. Various challenges facing human resource management in today’s ever changing organizations will also be analyzed. Ways through which managers can integrate various management theories in overcoming these challenges will also be discussed in detail. Finally, the paper will highlight the importance of the information gathered especially for the people managing today’s contemporary organizations. Reasons making people management a constant issue in modern workplaces According to Francis, Cyril, and Samuel, (2011, p2), people management is one of the important areas that should be carefully looked into in any organization. The invention of technology has impacted upon today’s organizations but the role played by human resource managers can not be replaced by technology. According to Baird and Meshoulam (1988, p118). The role played by human resources managers in today’s contemporary organizations makes people management becomes an important topic in many workplaces. Globalization and the frequent changes taking place have made many organizations focus on ensuring that their managers have the right management skills necessary for managing their human resources. Phatak (1992, p89) argues that for any organization to succeed, it must have sound management of its human resources. This is because it is through proper people management that an organization can manage to thrive in today’s competitive markets. According to Tung (1993, p468), workplaces have become diverse as a result of globalization. Changes are ever taking place due to competition and technological advancement. Apart from managing change, HRs has a big responsibility of making sound decisions that steers an organization in realizing its goals and objectives. It is also the responsibility of the HR to perceive any threats facing an organizations and plan ahead on how to overcome such threats. All these factors makes HRs become the most important component of an organization that ensures that it succeeds in today’s competitive business world. The dependence of organizations on HR for good performance has made people management become an important topic in today’s workplaces. This is because organizations have realized the importance of people management in order to realize their goals. According to Heenan and Perlmutter (1979, p123), it is through proper training that managers are able to become effective people managers. Therefore, many organizations have come up with interventions of ensuring that their managers are well equipped to overcome challenges facing their organizations in today’s globalized business world. Factors contributing to the challenge of people management in work environment Traditionally, human resource managers were charged with simple roles such as recruitment of new employees, performance appraisal, management of labor relations, retention of employees among many others. However, according to Adler (1991, p78), in the modern world, management of people has become diverse and is faced with a couple of challenges. Some of factors contributing to these challenges include: Workforce Diversity According to Arvey, Bhagat and Salas (1991, p371), today’s workplaces are characterized by diverse employees who possess various cultural and ethical values. Therefore, human resource managers have a challenge of ensuring that the diverse workforce comes together to embrace similar organizational behavior and ethics. The manager has also the challenge of ensuring that no group of employees takes advantage or makes the other group feel intimidated. Jackson (1992, p53) argues that diverse workforce also means that they have diverse interests and goals. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the HR to ensure that all the employees remain committed through constant motivation in order to realize good organizational performance and at the same time, enable them achieve their diverse personal interests. The crisis of Generation Y in Workplace According to Jackson, Stone and Alvarez (1993, p49), generation Y can be defined as the young employees aged 35 years and below. These young employees have brought great challenges to human resource managers in contemporary organizations as they have high expectations and want to achieve their career goals within the shortest time possible. According to recent research on this field, generation Y differs from the other existing generation in workplaces as it is self driven, and often purse multiple career paths at the same time. It is argued that this generation has embraced change and is updated on the ever changing technology and this means that a human resource manager has to be updated in terms of technology in order to manage such a workforce. These groups of employees are not shaken by changes in their employers’ policies and demand the most difficult responsibilities early in their careers. Hofstede (1980, p189), points out that the most challenging aspect of this generation is that it keeps moving from one organization to another without the fear of lacking a job after resignation. All these aspects of generation Y make people management in today’s organizations become a difficult task. This is because human resource manager has to be innovative in ensuring that the demands placed by this group of employees are meant in order to retain them in their organizations. The impact of Information Technology in Workplaces According to Clark (1993, p213), emergence and growth of Information Technology such as the internet has made the world small. Business ideas and important information are moving from one organization to another throughout the world in an easy and free manner. The main challenge posed by growth of Information Technology on people management is that it has be organized and utilized effectively in organizations, in order to ensure that it produces the desired results in terms of productivity. As a human resource manager in today’s organizations, one is expected to come up with effective ways of ensuring that the workforce utilizes Information Technology as a transformational tool in achieving the organizational goals. This is a great challenge since many of the old employees in workplaces are reluctant to embrace technological changes and perceive it as a threat to their careers instead of a useful asset in achieving the organizational goals and their personal career goals. Competition and Globalization According to Johnston and Packer (1987, p145), globalization poses various challenges for human resource managers in contemporary organizations. Globalization has brought about competition and hence HRs are required to be innovative and dynamic in order to ensure that their organizations thrive in today’s competitive markets. The stiff competition in the modern business world requires a human resource manager not only to lead but to act. Phatak (1992, p93), global markets are growing and expanding at a high rate and hence human resource managers are required to think internationally in order to keep pace with the changes taking place in global markets. This means that human resource managers have to be updated on international business relations in order to handle international customers so as to remain competitive in today’s markets. Many researchers also argue that globalization has added human resource managers more responsibilities such as: ensuring international customers remain satisfied, ensuring employees are trained to handle international market issues among many others. The changing employees’ ethics According to Boudreau and Berger (1985, p592), some of the traditional work ethics that governed employees include: honesty, openness, hard work, among many others. In traditional organizations, employees were industrious and adhered to their work ethics even without any supervision. This has greatly changed in modern organizations. It is argued that work ethics have greatly deteriorated in modern organizations especially due to workforce diversity and influx of generation Y. This is because today’s employees do not want to be governed but instead want to purse their career goals without being governed by any ethics. This is a great challenge for human resource managers as they have to come up with techniques of ensuring that their employees adhere to work ethics and remain committed in achieving their organizational goals. Integration of management theories in ensuring effective people management in contemporary organizations According to Susan and Randall (1995, p239), there are various management theories that have been developed to understand issues surrounding people management in organizations. Some of these theories include: General System Theory The theory developed by Von Bertalanffy in 1950 considers organizations as either open or closed system made up of various parts that are interdependent. In open systems, some parts of an organization are considered as inputs that should be managed effectively in order to realize desirable outputs. According to this theory, human resource management is considered as a subsystem which is integrated in the bigger organization system. As explained by this theory, in an organization as an open system, employees’ skills and competences are considered as inputs while their satisfaction and performance are considered as the outputs. In this system, the HR has the responsibility of effectively managing the inputs in order to achieve the desired outputs. This theory can effectively be integrated by people managers in organizations to overcome the various challenges they are currently facing. Human resource managers, who are able to realize those employees’ abilities and skills, give employee training a priority, in order to enhance their skills. Employees who receive constant training are well equipped to handle challenges presented by globalization, competition and hence steer their organizations towards achieving their organizational goals. Role Theory The theory formulated by Katz and Kahn in 1978, focuses on the roles of a organization as interdependent elements. According to Jackson and Schuler (1992, p124), this theory focuses on effective allocation of roles and the constant evaluation of performance so as to achieve an organization’s goals. According to this theory, the main duties of an HR are: sending role information to the rest of the employees, monitoring and supporting the desired organizational behavior and evaluation of job performance of the employees to ensure that they remain committed in achieving organizational goals. As Jackson and Schuler explain, the role played by an organizations’ external partners may also influence the behavior of the organization’s employees. Therefore, it is highly important that an HR has the right skills of balancing and distributing roles properly in order to achieve organizational goals. This theory can effectively be integrated in managing people by HRs in order to overcome challenges such as workforce diversity and inadequate human resources. Human Capital Theory The theory developed by Becker in the year 1964 mainly focuses on of people’s productive capabilities. According to Wright and McMahan (1992, p296), employees’ skills, competences and knowledge carry economic value to an organization as they enable it to become productive. Therefore, according to this theory, employees are considered the capital of an organization and it should be invested wisely to ensure that an organization is successful. This theory can be used by people managers in organizations to overcome today’s challenges. Since according to this theory employees are of much value to their organizations, human resource managers should focus on ensuring that they are always satisfied so as to steer the organization towards achieving its goals. Employee satisfaction can be realized through motivation, rewards, promotion, good wages among many others. Importance of the above literature for people managing organizations The paper has clearly explained the various reasons as to why people management has become an important topic in today’s workplaces. It has also explained the various challenges facing people management in contemporary organizations and the various management theories hat can be integrated by human resource managers to overcome the current challenges facing them. Such information is of much value to people managing today’s contemporary organizations. This is because the paper enlightens human resource managers on the various challenges facing them. The most important information contained in this paper is on various management theories and ways through which they can be applied in overcoming people management challenges. If people managers in contemporary organizations effectively apply the above explained management theories, they will be successful in overcoming various people management challenges and hence steer their organizations towards achieving their organizational goals. Conclusion From the paper, it is evident enough that people management has become an important topic of discussion in many organizations, as it has been realized to be the main means of achieving organizational goals. Factors such as workforce diversity, influx of generation Y in workplaces, globalization and competition are contributing to the various challenges being faced by today’s human resource managers. Management theories such as general systems theory, Role Theory and Human Capital Theory can be effectively applied in solving challenges facing people management in today’s contemporary organizations. References Adler N.J. (1991). International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior. Boston: PWSKent. Arvey R.D., Bhagat R.S., Salas E. (1991). Cross-cultural and cross-national issues in personnel and human resources management: Where do we go from here? Res. Personal Human Resource Management. 9:367-407. Baird L. and Meshoulam 1. (1988). Managing the two fits of strategic human resource management. Acad. Manage. Rev. 13:116-28. Begin J.P. (1991). Strategic Employment Policy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Boudreau J.W., Berger C.J. (1985). Decision theoretic utility analysis applied to employee separations and acquisitions. J.Appl. Psychol. 70:581-612. Clark J. (1993). Managing people in a time of technical change: conclusions and implications. In Human Resource Management and Technical Change, ed. J Clark, pp. 212-22. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Francis A. C., Cyril O.I. and Samuel, M.E.(2011). Human Resource Management Challenges in Nigeria under a Globalised Economy. International Journal of Economics and Management Science. Vol 1(4),:1-11. Heenan D.A. and Perlmutter H.V. (1979). Multinational Organization Development. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Hofstede G. (1980). Cultures Consequences. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Jackson S.E, Associates, eds. (1992). Diversity in the Workplace: Human Resources Initiatives. New York: Guilford. Jackson S.E. and Schuler R.S. (1992). HRM practices in service-based organizations: a role theory perspective. Adv. Serv. Mark. Manage. 1:123-57. Jackson S.E., Stone V.K.and Alvarez E.B. (1993). Socialization amidst diversity: the impact of demographics on work team old-timers and newcomers. Res. Organ. Behav. 15: 45-109. Johnston W.B. and Packer A.E. (1987). Workforce2000: Work and Workers for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: US Dept. Labor. Phatak AV. (1992). International Dimensions of Management. Boston: PWS-Kent. Susan J. E. and Randall S.S. (1995). Understanding Human Resource Management in the Contexts of organizations and their Environments. Anna Rev. Psychol. Vol 46:237-64. Tung R.L. (1993). Managing cross-national and intra-national diversity. Human Resource. Management. 32:461-77. Wright P.M. and McMahan G.C. (1992). Theoretical perspectives for strategic human resource management. J. Manage. 18:295-320. Read More