Human Resource Management: The Challenges
Obviously human resources faces challenges. Dealing particularly with people can be a daunting task but according to the chapter in our assigned reading they be broken down into three major categories:
- Environment Challenges – This is a challenge that is changing at a expedited pace. The challenges involve the rise of the internet, economic globalization, law, catastrophic events such as natural disasters and terrorist attacks
- Organizational Challenges – This is the position in which the human resource department choses a competitive position, choosing whether or not to downsize, and advancing technology.
- Individual Challenges – This challenge is mainly in regards of placing people in the right place in the organization, the treatment of employees, and taking steps to keep the moral positive for the employees of the company.
Something to keep in mind from the chapter is that there are two different types of employees that present these challenges. Line employees are the ones produce the product, while staff employees support the line function (Gomez-Meija, Balkin and Cardy 2016, 31).
Planning and Implementing Strategic HR Policies & Selecting HR Strategies to Increase Firm Performance
The planning and implementation of strategic HR policies is a vital lifeline of a business. Doing it correctly requires companies to be fastidious in there HR actions. This means that they need to encourage proactive behavior, good communication of company missions, critical thinking, and identifying the holes in the company’s present situation. The goal is to have a competitive advantage that is results because of the strategies and policies. They goal is also to avoid the day-to-day challenges and focus on the overall goal of the human resource department. The environment is also somewhat involved in those policies in that the location might dictate particular strategies or policies. Human resources must maintain an adaptive mindset to certain situations, and combine the use of strategies in place and immerging ones. These considerations and plans being put into action would result in a much more human resource department.
In my own experiences I have seen the effectiveness of laying out a detailed plan particular in the individual line workers. In the military if we had effective leaders, we would have good communication, clean goals set, and an overall investment in the individual human aspect of the military.
However, these human resource strategies need to fall in line with the company’s strategies, there unique characteristics and their capabilities. Together they should be consistent and reinforce each other as they are members of the same team.
The HR Department and Managers: An Important Partnership
A manager must keep in mind that an effective human resource departments responsibility is held by the managers. They need to be partners and work together as a team. However, the manager must make decisions for the betterment of the HR department and company as a whole. Essentially, human resource departments must be a consultant to managers, helping the managers do their jobs more effectively.
I have been able to see this within my own experiences. At a point in my own military experiences I held the responsibility in the personal development, work ethic, and moral of my soldiers. This meant that I had to implement a direct line of communication about my soldiers to our superiors. This partnership between myself and higher ranked leadership resulted in a more effective unit.
Case Study #1: ETHICS: Child Refugees in Turkey making clothes for UK Shops
This is an upsetting article but in my opinion not at all surprising. The exploitation of any refugee is disgusting and should be eliminate from any business practice. However, the greed of human kind shows that evil is still present in this world. People are taken advantage of in order to result in profit. Morals and ethics are neglected or not even in considered because the individual is not valued. Human life’s value throughout history been dictated by those with power and sometimes that falls into a business as shown in the article.
The article uses evidence from a source called panorama. That is all that it states about the source so I do not know if the validity is consistent in its details. However, once again it would not surprise me. As westerners we act like this is something that should be condemned but fail to take action on a continues basis. In my own opinion this negligence is attributed to our overly comfortable lifestyles that allows us to look the other way rather than take action against these business practices, even in foreign countries.
Case Study #2: HR Outsourcing: HR Consultancies check out Ranking of HR consultancies and Quantum
This article briefly explains the hiring of outsourcing an human resource department and their emphasis on the care of the employee. I really like the quoted that stated “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” From Mr. Branson
This kind of mindset should be prevalent in all human resources dedicated employees. I have seen the positive impact it has in my own experiences. My own leadership learning experiences have resulted in me learning that it is important to care about your employees so they know their own value and maintain motivation.
Case Study #3: 5 Extremely Common but Very Distasteful Unethical Business Practices
I do not consider these unethical business practices to be surprising but I think it is interesting to consider and the following 5 extremely common business practices:
- Misleading Product Information
- Unfair Competition
- Mistreatment of Employees
- Manipulating Accounts
- Bribery
In particular number three to relate to this course. It has become an all to familiar in evidence shown in media and news sources online that mistreatment of employees still occurs. The truth of the matter is that some businesses in particular countries don’t care to invest in a human resource department. Human life is a financial asset rather than a species that requires care and positive development.
References
Advisory HQ. 2020. Finding the Best HR Consulting Company to Help Build a Strong Motivated Team URL: https://www.advisoryhq.com/articles/hr-consulting-firms/ Accessed: 24 November 2020
BBC. 2020. Child Refugees in Turke making clothes for UK Shops. URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-37716463 Accessed: 24 November 2020
Gomez-Mejia, L.R. Balkin, D.B. & Cardy, R.L. 2016. Managing Human Resources. Global 8th ed. Pearson. London.
Gomez-Mejia, L.R. Balkin, D.B. & Cardy, R.L. 2016. Managing Human Resources. Global 8th ed. Pearson. London.
Trigger 1 