What are the advantages and disadvantages of flexibility to employees and employing organizations - Assignment Example

Human Resource Management The Question: What are the advantages and disadvantages of flexibility to employees and employing Organizations Is total flexibility a reality Table of Content Introduction What is flexibility Importance and advantages of Flexibility Disadvantages of flexibility Multi-facet Flexibility Advantages of flexibility for employees Literature Review Conclusion (Is flexibility a reality) Introduction Human beings are the most important asset of any organization. They are equally important to any other component of an organization. The mishandling of this important asset could lead to disastrous situations. Thus HRM section of a company plays an important role in its development and survival of any company. The objectives of management are to use the HR in such a way that they could become most useful. It is the responsibility of HRM to chalk out such strategies that may be useful for employees as well as for organization. The main areas to focus should be; collective bargaining at enterprise level, flexibility in relation to various forms of employment as well as in relation to working time and job functions. Close look at heightened competition, rapid changes in products and processes and the increasing importance of skills, quality and productivity. These factors have also had an impact on HRM policies and practices. In managing change, the key elements include employee involvement in effecting change, greater customer orientation, and ensuring that the skills of employees are appropriate to the production of goods and the provision of services acceptable to the global market. As such, managing people in a way so as to motivate them to be productive is one important objective of HRM. While in academic institutions HRM scholars emphasize the strategic role of HRM and define a new role for managing the employment relationship including: new organizational designs, flexible work arrangements, and the development of social partnerships. A theoretical development, that involves the central doctrine of HRM, is the integration of strategic management, organizational reforms. All these strategies lead a prospering business achievements and utter satisfaction of the stakeholders. People work best when supported by the framework that effective management can provide. Managers of human resources in businesses today face a rapidly changing world regarding such issues as changing workforce demographics, diversity, labor shortages, balancing family and work, rapidly changing technology, global competition, growing education and training requirements, as well as equal employment concerns. In addition, stereotypes can be found to exist even among the least prejudiced people yet it is especially important that businesses not let those thoughts impair the ability to manage others effectively. All the above have a definite effect on human resource management. Staffing, training, and development comprise the primary human resource management functions. What is flexibility Flexibility can be defined as the quality of person, group of people or firm to respond to changes. Flexibility can be defined differently in an organization 's perspective. It may encompass few aspects of the organization. HRM is one of the important aspects of the organization that requires flexibility. Innovative and flexible human resource (HR) practices can boost performance and competitiveness of an organization. It has been found out by various researchers that flexibility is one of the most important factors of an organization that contributes to successful business management activities and innovation. Importance and advantages of Flexibility Flexibility is quite important and necessary for a dynamic organization. It provides variety of opportunities and reduces various constrain that could have been faced due to rigidity. Some of the major advantages highlighting the importance of flexibility in HRM are briefly described here: 1. Innovations and dynamism can only be implemented in a flexible organization 2. Flexibility is necessary for idea realization; the unpredictable nature of innovation requires flexible approach of management. 3. The use of multiple labor pools provides the potential for firms to expand. Only a flexible HRM can employ culturally diverse workers to achieve the strategic objectives. 4. The knowledge of specific customs of different cultures possessed by managers from a variety of cultures increases the diversity of viewpoints in terms of values, problem definition, and problem solving. 5. That diversity also requires flexibility. Management in transnational atmosphere should have the capability of applying their skills in the organization 6. The HRM experts also believe in development of total compensation bargaining system. In order to accommodate the workers of different capabilities, skills and experience. This also requires flexibility in the approach of HRM 7. Some (HRM) practices are decisive for developing sustainable competitive advantage through human resources. These practices may be selectivity while recruiting, attractive wages, on job training, rewards, job security, teamwork. All these practices depend on the flexibility of senior management in HRM. 8. A combination of corporate management techniques and entrepreneurial flexibility is the best way to handle human resources. Disadvantages of flexibility 9. Many companies show many faces of flexibility with different approaches by obtaining employee commitment, providing training, giving rewards, and managing international differences. 10. This world is has become a global village. HR decisions should be flexible for achieving global scope without this goals can not be achieved 11. Globalization of markets results in more rapid changes, that requires flexibility from the work force. The firm with superior human capital should have advantages in flexibility. 12. Flexibility also helps employees in working within their limitations. 13. Flexible organizations employees feel relaxed and relieved as they do not have to face unnecessary and rigid regulations. Disadvantages of flexibility Sometimes flexible approach in HRM back fires. It produces unwanted results thus creating difficulties for the management. Some employees may use the flexible environment of the organization to their advantage negatively. They try to get undue favors and also become less alert and less industrious. But on the whole there are very few disadvantages of being flexible. The whole world has speeded up and become more short-term and we live with both greater variety and of course with greater insecurity. Most of HR managers acknowledge that company loyalty to staff had decreased. But companies with rigid environment do not feel effects of the weakening of that relationship. As they have very rigid working procedures and regulations. The lack of loyalty of employees does not affect performance of the rigid firms. Whereas because of lack of loyalty of employees the flexibility is misused by few of them. Multi-facet Flexibility Flexibility has two basic dimensions: flexibility in employment and flexibility in work. As markets and the business cycle undergo their usual changes, managers of firms find it desirable to shift the size of their work forces. In the last two decades there has been a large and varied list of innovations, which have increased flexibility in employment. Part-time and temporary work, sub-contracting, and homework are just some of the forms of employment flexibility. Flexibility in work means flexibility within the firm or production process. Mere flexibility is not, however, the central issue. The debate on flexibility goes beyond its function or desirability. "What has so excited the academic world, and many political circles as well, is the notion that a new socio-technological paradigm is upon us. This new (or revived) paradigm is based on a combination of flexible forms of employment and inter- and intra-firm structure along with the new computerized flexible technologies" (Curry, 1993, p.102) Advantages of flexibility for employees There is another aspect of flexibility with reference to prospective or working employesss. The employees can make themsleves more attractive and worthy for employers by getting more and more flexible and adaptive. There are many ways to become attractive to employers. Some of them are: Make sure your CV highlights popular skills which transfer between jobs - things like resource management, persuasion, IT skills. Demonstrate your flexibility by giving examples of when you have coped with change. Chase up any opportunities for training to add to your skills base. Read the papers and trade press and make sure you know what is going on in your area. Make as many contacts as you can who may be able to help you when the time is right to make a move. Mobility obviously enhances your chances. But you have to decide on the value of any individual move. Senior executives have had to cope with lifestyle changes and redundancy as much as anyone in recent years. Literature Review Various scholars have led great emphasis on flexibility of HRM. Some of the ideas and theories of scholars are given as under: 1. Employment-at-will issues in small businesses requires flexibility in HRM. (Holley and Wolters (1987)) 2. Various legal issues involved in employee selection methods used in small business can be averted by adopting flexible and tranparent system (Maurer and Fay (1986)) 3. Selection and retention of a quality work-force as the most important HRM issue for small firms. Hornsby and Kuratko (1990) 4. According to the resource-based view, a resource must first be valuable. Firm Specific Human Capital Theory provides an explanation of the conditions under which human capital can create value for the firm (Hashimoto, 1981). According to this theory, when the demand for labor is heterogeneous (that is, when the jobs of firms differ and these jobs require different skills) and the supply of labor is heterogeneous (that is, individuals differ in both the types and levels of their skills), then human capital can create value for the firm. Steffy and Maurer (1988) provide evidence that, in fact, the demand for and supply of labor are heterogeneous across most industries. 5. Labor unions can have a major impact on a firm's HRM practices. It has been argued that unions not only limit an organization's discretionary authority to change workplace practices, but also have a negative effect on productivity (Holly and Jennings 1994). Also, union workers generally report lower job satisfaction and higher conflict with management than do non-union workers (Freeman 1994). Unions can also affect the median wage of the workforce. Despite the debate on unions' impact on the workplace, no empirical research has been published comparing changes in HRM practices in firms in which unions have won elections to firms in which unions have lost elections. The goal of this study is to begin to fill this void in the literature by examining the perceptions of top managers of small firms regarding how various HRM practices changed in their firms after union elections. Given the role of HRM practices in developing sustained competitive advantage, this is an important issue for small firms that face union elections. Conclusion (Is flexibility a reality) As it is quite clear from above discussion that flexibility has multi-dimentional impact on the impact on organization, HRM of organaization and also on employees themsleves. These impacts may be positive as well as negative. Flexiblity can only become a reality when management gets successful in achieving the strategic objects. On the contrary the flexibility can prove burden for an organizations. Some of the strategic objectives are given below. These objectives should be achieved by using flexible practices in the HRM of organization. 1. Capacity for Change. In today's turbulent environment, organizations must be able to adapt and innovate or risk failure. Only a flexible HRM is well equipped to face untoward situations. 2. Strategy Implementation. A successful organization must continually assess and formulate new strategies to meet the needs of its customers in more effective ways. In addition, organizations should be altered to meet their strategic goals. The achievement of these goals can be facilitated only with the help flexible HRM practices. 3. Participatory Management: HR professionals have recommended external change consultants for the business or assumed that role themselves. The customized hiring and appraisal processes to reflect competitive competencies, fostered management reviews of the impact of technology, and become management team players helping to set the direction of the utility. 4. Training. Training is helpful for organizations to develop a culture, which is more closely aligned with the needs of the new environment. 1. Reward and Incentives: The reward system is based on the straightforward assumption that people do what they are rewarded to do. In order to be most effective for supporting change efforts, the reward systems should be tied to performance, awarded in a timely manner, be diverse, and distributed equitably. 2. Performance Assessment. HRM should ensure that performance measurement systems occur at regular intervals, that the information is specific, and that the data collected is used for making needed adjustments in the selected course of action or competitive strategy. References/Bibliography 1. Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17, 99-120. 2. Besanko, D., Dranove, D. & Shanley, M. (2000): Economics of strategy. (2nd ed.), New York: John Wiley. 3. Finney, Martha (1987). "HRM in Small Business: No Small Task," Personnel Administrator 32 (Nov.), 36-44. 4. Holley, William H., and Roger S. Wolters (1987). "Employment at Will: An Emerging Issue for Small Business," Journal of Small Business Management 25 (October), 1-8. 5. Hashimoto, M. (1981). Firm-specific human capital as a shared investment. American Economic Review, 71,475-482. 6. Hornsby, Jeffrey S., and Donald K. Kuratko (1990). "Human Resource Management in Small Business: Critical Issues for the 1990's," Journal of Small Business Management 28 (July), 9-18. 7. Huselid, M. "The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Financial Performance." Academy of Management Journal, June 1995, p. 635-672. 8. Kanter, R. M. (1991). Transcending business boundaries: 12,000 world managers view change. Harvard Business Review, May-June, 151-164. 9. Laabs, J. "Expert Advice on How to Move Forward with Change." Personnel Journal, July 1996, p. 54-63. 10. Mead, R. (1998). International management: Cross-cultural dimensions. (2nd ed.), Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 11. Maurer, Steven D., and Charles H. Fay (1986). "Legally Fair Hiring Practices for Small Business," Journal of Small Business Management 24 (January), Read More