Global Competition in the World Market - Essay Example

To what degree are resourcing strategies constrained by the nature of the external employment market and how can the human resources function respond to these? One of the major challenges of any business or non-business organization is the nature of the external employment market. Despite efforts of companies in putting great emphasis on the process of selecting, recruiting, and training employees, they are still not able to manage good and valuable human resource that will get the proper work done within a given time frame due to the highly paying and equally competitive external employment market. According to Price (2004), resourcing is a “dynamic process” in which human resources move within various parts of the organization. It basically deals with the process of selection and socialization of new recruits towards getting the right work done by the right people. Aside from this, resourcing also helps the company understand the expectations of its prospective employees on issues such as: the reasons why people work, expected working conditions and salaries, promotions and the varying employment levels, effects of competitor activities on employee availability, and working patterns. On the other hand, the Hudson Institute, in its Workforce 2020 publication, indicated that resourcing strategies are, as a whole, not only involves the needs and expectations of employees but as well as the movement of its external environment. This involved the aspects of: (a) economic and technological change, (b) workforce availability and quality concerns, (c) demographics and diversity issues, and (d) organizational restructuring. Given the aforementioned issues and constraints, there is evidence to prove that the external employment environment has a great contribution in the manner to which organizations utilize its resourcing strategies. Before further discussion on the nature of the external environment, there is a need to answer the question, why do people work? In any working environment, people work, not only because they want to, but initially because they need to. In exchange for the amount of work they do for companies, employees get compensated and rewarded for the work well-done. Like in the case of American Express (HRM Guide, 2001), wherein it awarded its Canadian staff after the company had surpassed its 5-year financial targets and record. Since people work in exchange of the compensation they get, American Express equaled the loyalty and hard work of its 3,500 employees by benefiting them with a bonus plan for its entire Canadian staff and a stock purchase plan in which the employees can have an option of buying the company’s shares through its savings program. Not only has American Express able to answer its employees needs, the company was also able to create a suitable working condition and competitive salary for its constituents. And it will not be surprising if a lot of people will want to be employed in American Express. Like a domino effect, the external employment market not only affects the growth and development of any company, it may also dictate the carrying capacity of the organization to some extent. For one, economic and technological changes throughout the years have somehow altered the employment and occupational patterns around the globe. From agriculture and manufacturing, global competitors in the world market are now forced to close its facilities, change management practices, strive in productivity, and rapid shift in labor costs as more and more people prefer outsourcing industries, nursing, telecommunications, and other service-oriented industries. Also primarily to blame is the technological bloom of the Internet thus forever changing the way people provide products and services across nations. Whether companies like it or not, they have no choice but to sway to the demands of society. According to the US Department of Labor (2006), there has been a rapid occupational shift in the last ten years, particularly favoring computer-related occupations, with 118% change from 1996 to 2006, and personal and home care aides (85% change, as contributed by the country’s aging population). It is no wonder why no matter how hard agriculture-related and manufacturing industries come up with resourcing strategies, these companies would have a hard time hiring the “right people” as the “right people” would rather prefer occupations where they could easily get hired and has relatively higher rate of compensation. Furthermore, companies also had to contend with the rapidly emerging global competition in the world market. Highly skilled technical jobs such as information technology, financial services, health care, and transportation are now being based in developed countries (United States and Western Europe). Developing countries like the China, Thailand, Mexico, and the Philippines are now being invested on less-skilled manufacturing assembly and outsourcing jobs by the global market leaders due to its cheap labor costs. As a result, highly-skilled people from developing countries migrate to developed countries in search for greener, more paying “pastures.” These once agriculturally-based developing countries are now experiencing labor shifts towards less-skilled, more paying jobs, thus leading to the problem of workforce availability and quality. As previously mentioned, the search of people’s greener pastures has led to a rapid shift in the global demographics and diversity. According to the US Department of Labor Employment Projections (2006), more and more Asian and Hispanic labor force are expected to dominate the US labor market as compared to the white labor force. As a result, there will a massive influx of immigrants into the United States as compared to other countries in the world. Lastly, resourcing strategies are further constrained by the fact that there is a need for continuous organizational restructuring in its workforce as current trends are now shifting towards mergers and acquisitions. And as part of adapting change, employees’ lives are always at stake through the following scenarios: (1) elimination of layers of management; (2) closing-out; (3) organizational mergers; and (4) outplacement of employees. More often than not, jobs are redesigned to suit the needs of such organizational change. With such constraints in the external employment market, companies are faced with the urgency to develop human resource functions that will respond to each and every dynamic need. According to Price (2004), there is a need for any organization to have a human resource planning that would “anticipate and map out the consequences of business strategy on an organization’s human resources.” Before this is carried out, companies especially those situated in the developing countries must face the fact that the demographic shift is inevitable. Hence, there is a need to become equally competitive with the developed countries for Third World countries to compete with the needs of the employees in developed countries. To make do of the current human resources, there is a need to assess and evaluate the following aspects (between the company and the employees): (1) redundancy or recruitment costs – especially in companies undergoing mergers and acquisitions; (2) consequences of the work on the employee’s morale – so as to be able to work in harmony with the company; (3) redeployment/outplacement of opportunities – this will enable employers to assess the reward system of the company; (4) availability of the “right people” in the labor market – given that there is a need to hire people outside the organization; (5) time schedule – meeting the deadlines at the right time; (6) training and development – enhancing the skills of the employees for the benefit of their skills, knowledge, and performance; and (7) meeting the management requirements – in accordance with the rules, regulations, and policies of the organization. This assessment will enable companies to determine the forces that influence the future supply and demand of employees. After the planning and analysis, it is assured that the company will able to uphold and maintain competitive individuals that will do the right job. Employees are given proper orientation and awareness on the employment opportunities they may attain so as to make their stay in the company worthwhile, also called equal employment opportunity. Employee’s compensation ad benefits must be carefully planned and mapped out to assure them that they would be financially secure in the company. Aside from these, it is also essential to conduct trainings not only related to their current work, but also those related to their future jobs so as to equip employees that they are skillfully equipped to handle promotions and higher level management. Family-friendly policies and benefits are highly encouraged, for the part of the companies, such as medical leaves, child-care and elderly facilities, and the like so as ensure the holistic welfare of the employees, without having any distractions or fear that they have been neglecting their family as a price to pay for working too much. Despite the domino effect of the external labor market, various technological and sociological means have been devised by human resource departments to ensure that the overall welfare of the employee, as well as the company, is taken well-care of. For in return, the future of the company relies, not mainly on technology, but on those people who run and rule technology. References Hudson Institute. Workforce 2020. August 2006 . Price, Alan. Human Resource Management in a Business Context 2nd Edition. Thomson Learning, 2004. HRM Guide. American Express extends bonuses and stock plans to all staff. March 2001. HRM Guide, August 2006 . U.S. Department of Labor, The 10 Occupations with the Fastest Employment Growth 1996—2006, August 2006. Bureau of Labor Statistics, . U.S. Labor Force. Employment Projections 1996—2006 in Racial/Ethnic Shifts. U.S. Labor Force, August 2006. www.hrmguide.co.uk www.resourcingstrategies.com; Jan 2006 Read More