Human Resource Management Challenges, Innovations and Trends - Essay Example

?Human Resource Management Introduction Before the dawn of the 20th century, work was mainly physical involving the moving of goods, packaging of books, cranking of widgets, tooling machines. The definition of work was also much different from what we have known since the last 50 to 60 years. Work was to do with more tangible, concrete things that could be dealt with in a clear and discreet way. It involved labour and physical activity even if it meant typing, it was quite mechanical involving a lot of mechanical steps and finally having the output of the effort on paper. The role of HR is changing fast with leapfrogging technological and marketplace advancements. The HR department’s primitive objectives were to ensure a smooth personnel management system, administration, hiring process etc. It was considered as a administrative overhead. The present day HR role is more strategic. It is directly connected to business success, revenues and opportunities being seized for organisational benefits and accomplishment of long terms and short term goals. (PWC, 2012, p. 1) As the industrial revolution began, it took the entire world in its grasp, changing and transforming work, its definition and the way people approached them. New roles got created starting from financial accountants, lawyers, executives, sales personnel, managers, administrators etc. Divisions such as Finance, Sales, Marketing, Legal, Accounts etc got created, roles got assigned to such departments and several designations like specialists, senior specialist, intern, contractor, probationer, part timer, summer worker etc got created. Human Resource Management in the 1800s or earlier involved clearly defined tasks such as recruitment, appointment with roles and responsibilities, observation during probation period, confirmation, appraisals, compensation and promotion. The scope of the Human Resource Management was limited and there was nothing as Strategic human Resource Management, as strategy was not required. What was important during the pre-industrial revolution and the pre-20th century period was finding the people with necessary qualification to do a particular job. Monopoly existed, competition was unimaginably less, organisation processes were simpler, goals were easier to comprehend and tangible. Therefore the Human Resources Arm either did not exist as a specific department or even if it did exist, it had limited scope and function. Work mainly had to do with a lot of physical exertion and there were very few main stream disciplines like: teaching, designing, building, carpentry, plumbing, construction, electrical work, research, practising medicine, surgery, law, policing, agriculture, army and civic operations. As a result of the limited scope of work, Human Resource Management had limited things to deal with and was relatively underdeveloped. The real shift came into the picture form the 1900s when the very definition of work and profession started changing. After the industrial revolution, thinkers, entrepreneurs and leaders around the globe identified a tremendous potential for their respective businesses to flourish. The scope for growth given the industrial boom and technological leap was found to be immense. This needed information management. Thus the gradual change in the nature of work, its perception and treatment started. Work changed from the simple paper and pen based design, hand tooling of machines, laborious exercises of packaging, unpacking, in short Assembly Line work to knowledge work. A change in the Human Management Strategy followed. Fundamentals were changes. How work is defined and how people fit in to their roles, how organisations create and handle work, how businesses are run with the help of knowledge forever changed the system of the Human Resource Management System. With time HR departments became important entities in organisations, its effectiveness affecting the organisation’s performance, general perception, market value and reputation to a great extent. (Rai, 2012, p. 1) As organisations started becoming people-centric from the old fashioned community-centric there was a change in human resources in terms of its core responsibilities, its structure and its scope of functioning. The modern day organisation invests a lot in terms of money, time and resources in the HR department on a location, country-wide, geographic and global scale. Organisations of the present day 21st Century have full fledged HR management systems or even outsource entire HR process to service providers and specialist organisation. Some of the core modern day HR processes on which further discussion in this paper will be based, are: 1. Talent Acquisition or Recruiting 2. Market Analysis and Research 3. Learning and Development / Learning and Knowledge Management 4. Employee Engagement (Great Place to Work, Community Events etc) 5. Performance Management Process 6. Compensation Planning Etc Human Resources Management Challenges Innovations and Trends The Challenges Facing HR Discussion The modern day HR system is dynamic. With the workplace and the professional community getting diverse, it is gradually becoming an increasingly difficult task to manage people. Some of the challenge face by the HR departments include: maintaining cultural diversity, maintaining ethical, value-based and business unity across offices, locations, departments, division, countries and geographies. This has been a major challenge. Every office has a tendency to become localised and evolve into a local variant. Policies and procedures are interpreted in a specific way. Ethics are looked at in a different way and a varying degree of importance is associated with it. Having a united workforce in a diverse setting is the biggest challenge looking in the face of big multinationals like: Google, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, GE, Citibank, and BMW etc. The Trends in Meeting HR Needs Challenges in HR Management in 2012 Coping with Attrition Attrition is a result of changes in the market, financial crisis of the company and drastic change in the company’s business plan of the company. The last wave of attrition witnessed by the world on global scale across small and large organisations was in the year 2007. After the collapse of the financial firm Lehman Brothers and many other financial institutions, the entire industry got shook by the ripples emerging out of financial wreckage fuelled by economic inflation. Assets were found disproportionate, investor confidence plummeting low, firms and individual going bankrupt due to crashes in the stock market, prices rising etc. All of this had lead to a chain of events rippling across the globe and affecting all major economies of the world. Modern day HR Management went through a significant exercise of re-evaluation and re-structuring their strategy to cope with the global recession and yet be prepared to peak in after recovery, cashing in on the global crisis and speeding past competitors. Some companies chose to down size their employee base while other chose to retain/ continue recruiting but curtail on additional expenses like merchandise gifts, air travel, free accommodation and bonuses. There were other companies that chose to do both, impose a cut on the head count as well as a cut on the pay cheque, perks and other benefits. The challenge that the professional industry faces are the following: 1. Hiring the best people 2. Retaining the best people 3. Balancing costs and revenue Rising costs have forced HR Departments to rely on attrition and increase roles and responsibilities for existing people. Innovations in MR Management in 2012 Employee Referral Each One Get One Scheme The ‘Each One Get One Scheme’ recently started by many organisations is based on the employee referral scheme gathering widespread popularity from employees within organisations as well as organisational leaders around the globe. Much of the initial responsibilities are done away with and the initial communication for a job is made by an employee to one in his/ her known circle. The employee participating in this recruitment process gets a referral bonus, prospect of working with his colleague and many more incentives or prizes. Build your own team The ‘Build your own team’ is also based on employee referral where an employee can refer multiple friends for openings in his company and get a chance to work with them in the same city. Again the rules of referral bonus and incentives apply in this case Employee Motivation Employee Motivation plays a very important part in work. It is a much researched, discussed, debated and applied concepts in the present day work place. Experiments on controlled groups and motivated groups of people have been conducted and a significant improvement in performance registered as a result of motivation. Organisations are trying to tap into this pool of motivation to bring about positive changes in employee behaviour, employee attitude and overall employee engagement with the intention of getting the most out of him or her. Motivation can be of two types: 1. Intrinsic Motivation 2. Extrinsic Motivation Intrinsic Motivation Some of the intrinsic motivation factors include: type of work, scope of increase in knowledge, cutting edge work etc Extrinsic Motivation Some of the extrinsic motivation factors include: good working conditions, positive work environment, good compensation, additional benefits, organisation brand, empathy from seniors, empathetic leadership etc. It has been found out that there is a positive relationship between type of work, supervision, and motivation and a strong connection between employee motivation, compensation and employee engagement. Employee Motivation Motivation through compensation Many companies have started compensating their employees in many ways. Employee compensation is not only comprised of their monthly pay check, but also performance linked bonuses paid in half-yearly, quarterly or monthly instalments and other incentives. Compensation linked with skill, such as hot skill bonuses, deep skills bonuses etc also drive employees to acquire and implement hot skills critical for the relevance of the business. Yet other forms of compensation such as the gratuity and superannuation have been old and practices HR systems to motivate employee to stay with the organisation for longer periods of time. The practise of ‘One Time Payout’ commonly known as the OTP is a more recent concept for an off-cycle after completion of 2 years or 7 years in an organisation. Recently a few months back organisations like Accenture and other IT companies introduced the concept of full day salary payment for working on public holidays as well as a compensatory off on a working day Motivation through granting time away from work The modern day HR System has identified the draw backs of rigid and worn out rules that are no longer relevant to the present day job scenario. People feel more relaxed knowing that a work-life balance stands a better chance given the present work situation. Employees are able to work with better focus, increased productive energy and greater focus when they are given adequate time away form work. Organisation sponsored vacations Many global corporate have started this new trend of sending people for vacation trips for as long as 15 days to come back with positive energy and serving the role and the organisation well. Motivation through leadership connects Employee motivation is provided though periodic connects with the immediate and hierarchical leadership. In most cases the leadership talks and informal connects help a lot in terms of boosting the morale and providing much needed motivation to employees. Leaders of the ranks of senior executive, global lead, country specific lead, geography leads etc are invited to deliver talks to employees. Innovations in HR Management systems in 2012 We will discuss some of the modern HR innovations in different organisations in 2012 that have helped organisations be more productive and employee friendly: Changing Role of HR Function for 2012: There are three sections of surveyed audience that believe in different outcomes in the year 2012: 1. 27 % of responding organisations believe that HR will have to be a business partner 2. 34 % of organisations believe that HR will have to be a strategic partner 3. 22 % of organisations believe that HR will have to be a change agents 4. 13 % of organisations believe that the major role HR departments will play will be that of a employee engager 5. 4 % of organisations believe the role of HR will be no different in the year 2012 than what has been for the past few years. (Padmaja, Rao, 2012, p. 12) HR Focus for 2012: Another result of the survey that forecast the role of HR Management is as follows: 1. 25 % of surveyed organisations believe HR Management Make Organisations more competitive 2. 15 % of surveyed organisations believe HR Management Make Organisations more cost effective 3. 53 % of surveyed organisations believe HR Management Make organisations more adaptable to change 4. 1 % of surveyed organisations believe HR Management Make organisations more conscious about their brand 5. 6 % of surveyed organisations believe HR Management Make organisations more attractive for new hires (Padmaja, Rao, 2012, p. 14) Some of the implications of the HR Role function in 2012 that need to be thought about and put in the agenda of the to-do list include: 1. Figuring out the budgetary spend on training the HR team on strategic thinking 2. Number of hours that the organisation plans to spend on white- boarding (moving from the nice-to-do to the must-do category) 3. Number of hours the organisation plans to spend with business and investors (the outside-inside perspective) (Padmaja, Rao, 2012, p. 16) Some of the implications of the HR focus in 2012 are: 1. A formidable plan for creating an awareness of impending changes without causing a dent in employee confidence and panic 2. Understanding whether organisation calendars have specific learning and development programs for change management or it is assumed that employees will pick this skill up automatically and intuitively. 3. Rewards and Recognition programs and other motivating factors to help employees become more competitive and cost effective (Padmaja, Rao, 2012, p. 18) HR Practices Trend in 2012: In the year 2012 the focus of HR practices will be on the managing the following hard factors: 1. ROI 2. Employee cost 3. Attrition etc. (Management Study Guide, 2012 p. 1) Some of the softer aspects are: 1. Employee Engagement 2. Employee Delight 3. Employee Counselling Some of the Skills required in HR professionals in 2012 are: 1. Strategic Business Partner Attitude 2. Change Agents 3. ROI focused 4. PR for HR 5. Brand Ambassadors Trends for attracting talent in 2012 1. Employer Brand 2. Social Media and Electronic Advertisements 3. Hiring Decisions 4. Talent Landscaping and EVP (Padmaja, Rao, 2012, p. 20) Employer Brand: Despite some tough decisions by the senior management and senior HR management of the organisations that brought about drastic changes in the company in the face of uncertainty, unstable economy and unpredictability of the future, some organisations (9 %) believe that brand image is still intact. Some organisations (26 %) still believe that the employer brand was slightly diluted due to economic environment. Yet most organisations (40 %) believed that employees understand the decision of the organisation and does not let it affect their joining decision. (Deloitte, 2012, p. 1) HR best Practices in 2012: Some of the HR best practices in 2012 are as follows: 1. Healthcare 2. Paid Leaves Initiative 3. Ethics 4. Social Media 5. Environment Responsibility 6. Workplace Wellness 7. Classifying Employees 8. Retirement of Baby Boomers 9. Identity Theft 10. Communications (Quayle, 2012, p. 17) Conclusion: Summing up the discussion we can conclude by saying that the role of HR is more strategic and has a business partner or strategic partner perspective. It is no longer considered as an administrative overhead. It has to with people and learning, with the final outcomes being productivity and results. HR management has more roles to play including branding, recruiting strategy, employee engagement, motivation, being a brand ambassador, finding ways to come up with cost effective solutions etc. Works Cited 1. PWC. ( 2012, Nov 6) “Key Trends in Human Capital 2012 – A Global Perspective”.. Web 6 Nov. 2012. Retrieved From: http:www.pwc.com 2. Padmaja, P., Rao, K. S. (2012, Nov 6). “HR Trends for 2012 – A Research Report from People Matters and the Strategist” .The Strategist. 6 Nov. 2012. 3. Quayle, E. V.( 2012, Nov 6). “Top 10 Best Practices in HR Management- Special Report For 2012”. 6 Nov. 2012. Web 6 Nov. 2012 4. Rai, S. (2012, Jan 1). “History of Human Resource Management”. Jan 2012. 5. Deloitte. (2012, Jan 1). Human Capital Trends 2012. Retrieved From: http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Services/consulting/human-capital/human-capital-trends-2012/index.htm 6. Management Study Guide. (2012, Jan 1) HR Challenges – How to cope with them effectively? 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