Overview of HRM and its importance

Discuss about the Human Resource Management for Business Operations.
 

The primary purpose of the task is to explain the key challenges of the human resource management which will continue to evolve for years to come. It explains that how these challenges and issues occur at the workplace. Along with this, various strategies have been explained in the task that helps to manage key challenges of the HRM. These strategies give a clear view to the organization to function effectively and efficiently. Some real life examples also have been explained in the task to analyze the key HRM issues within the organization. HRM enable them to work with professionalism and therefore the paper discusses the functioning of HR and what challenges it faces in business operations.

According to Story et al (2014), human resource management is the process to manage the employees of the organization and deal with the ways to recruit and hire the persons which are required for the organization. These persons are hired on the basis of the skills and the capabilities they possess which are helpful for the betterment of the organization as well as the person employed. In this process, HRM plays a significant role to carry the business activities and operations effectively. HRM is very much necessary to the organization and it is considered the backbone of the firm (Ehnert, 2014). Every company has to maintain the HR for its benefits. The main function of HR is hiring, training and development of the newly employed person, and providing the appraisal or rewards to the deserving person etc.  It has the responsibility of carrying the organizations work in a synchronized way. Hurn (2014) stated that the main asset of any organization is their employees and people who work for them. Hence it becomes very important that the company can choose these people carefully, and this is the major task of human resource manager. In this rapidly transforming business world, the requirement of a well-efficient human resource team is necessary. But with the evolving business, the challenges of the human resource management have also increased and it is assumed that these challenges may also evolve with time (Ehnert, Harry and Zink, 2014).

Budhwar and Debrah (2013) analyzed that Human resource management (HRM) is embraced by numerous organizations on account of their advantages as discussed above. But at the same time, there are various challenges and difficulties which rise in front of HR team. They arise while performing their responsibilities and roles in the workplace. The major challenge is hiring the right person for the organization. While employing, the HR has to assess the whole personality of the person and the talent which he or she possess. These hired individuals are the 

Major Challenges faced by HRM

key factor deciding the productivity of the company. If any person is selected who does not fit in the environment and the culture of the organization, then they will prove to be a liability for the organization regardless of all the talent and ability they have. This challenge could keep the organizational functions from being hindered. It also affects the productivity and efficiency of the workers negatively. Next challenge faced is retention of the employees and especially those which are best suited for the enterprise. Hiring the best talent is not enough until it proves beneficial. The company is unable to attract and retain the potential and talented employees due to poor policies and strategies. At the same time, hiring new individuals is again a long process and making that individual familiar to the environment of company is also time consuming. The main reasons due to which holding the employee is an issue are long working hours, no work-life balance of employee, or if the employee feels that his talent is wasted in the company then they may feel to switch to some other organization. These talents are invaluable strength for any company and hence HR should more focus on the employee attraction and retention (Sparrow and Cooper, 2012).

Further talking, another issue is Workforce diversity. The company is failed to provide training and development coaching the workers thus workforce diversity issues are raised at the workplace (Dickmann, Brewster and Sparrow, 2016). To maintain a large workforce is a main problem as everyone has different views, different opinion but at the same time they have to work together as a team. If any problem persist between team, then this will reflect in the performance of the team and finally in the productivity of the organization. So, HR has a responsibility to maintain the healthy environment in the company and interaction between the employees. Next challenge is globalization that could affect the profitability of the firm adversely. If the company is acquired by some multi-national corporation, then this challenge may arise. Although internationalization depicts the success of the company but due to this various matters rise in front of human resource management. These issues are related to different work culture, background, different languages and the approach used for work. HRM has all the responsibility to take care of any conflicting situation which may arise due to the globalization and other issue (Scullion and Collings, 2011). It has been noted by Jiang et al (2012), language and communication are also biggest issues that are faced by HRM at the workplace.

Real life examples of companies managing HRM challenges

Various examples of the companies have shown that the HRM is beneficial and fruitful to them. Keeping the employees happy has given them the same revert and made those companies successful. The examples of such companies are BHP Billiton, Coles Company, Woolworths. Working under the guidance of HRM in these companies have proved worthy in terms of monetary and work culture. Wal-Mart is one of the biggest companies of the world in terms of number of employees and the revenue generated. The HRM is well planned and stratified in Walmart. For example, the human resource planning is the topmost priority of this company. Its every store has a HR manager and they covert the general planning into the corporate planning. BHP Billiton is world’s largest mining company. Hence it faces the issue of work diversity. But the company has overcome this challenge because of the strategic HR planning. Jo McConnell, Vice President of Human Resources at BHP Billiton says that they have maintained strict rules and regulations according to the global standards. HRM at Woolsworth continuously encourages its employees to improve their productivity. They do so by providing rewards, hike in the salary of good performing employee etc. Toyota is another example who is continuously facing HRM issues due to poor and ineffective HRM. The company is unable to provide proper remuneration and wage to the employees. Therefore, attracting and retaining the workers is one of the biggest issues for the company. Patrick Neumann and Dul (2010) noted that health and safety is one of significant issues that is dealt by the company while conducting business operations in a large extent. One of the important challenges that faced by HRM is discrimination and outscoring. Discrimination is done by the managers and leaders on the basis of sex, genders and culture. It may influence the outcomes and revenue of the firm adversely (Paauwe, 2009).

Now it is recommended that the company should use effective and unique recruitment and selection process to appoint the candidates at the workplace. Furthermore, nne of the possible solutions is integrating any HRM software with company’s system which can assess the resume of the candidate on the basis of requirement of the company and rate the candidate accordingly. This will reduce the work of HR team and then HR can focus on making the candidate familiar with the work practices of organization.

Another solution provided for the issue of retaining the employee is that there can be various work incentives which can be provided according to the performance of the employee. The ability of the employee should be equally compensated with the payment which satisfies the need of the person. Payrolls should be assigned with care, gifts and rewards should be given, even holiday packages could be sponsored for them, flexible work timings could be allowed. The maintenance of work-life balance of the person working should also be the priority of company. To resolve the problem occurring due to workforce diversity, various cultural events could be held at the company, every festival should be celebrated, weekly and monthly meeting could be done so that the employees get to know each other in a better way. HR should take steps to create a healthy and value driven organization. Unity in diversity should be the used.  To overcome the challenges of globalization outsourcing of talent is one of the solutions. By using appropriate ways and strategy, company can build a strong team that can work with new ideas and bring up the new ideas (Tarique and Schuler, 2010). Effective and strong culture shall be maintained by the company to augment and boost the confidence level of the workers.

From the above analysis, it has been concluded that each and every organization should maintain and develop a highly efficient HR team and gain the popularity in the marketplace. This can be just done by managing the above HR challenges. Various employee-centric approaches, the leadership skill and right software will solve most of the above stated problems. The flexible work timing, a pleasant working atmosphere, providing the recognition and other incentives will help in retaining the employees. These practices will give surprising results in today’s rapidly growing business environment. The paper is an overview focusing majorly on the HRM department of the organization and explaining that how it can help the company to expand and grow. 

References

1. Budhwar, P.S. and Debrah, Y.A. eds., 2013. Human resource management in developing countries. Routledge.
2. Dickmann, M., Brewster, C. and Sparrow, P. eds., 2016. International Human Resource Management: Contemporary HR Issues in Europe. Routledge.
3. Ehnert, I., 2014. Paradox as a lens for theorizing sustainable HRM. In Sustainability and human resource management(pp. 247-271). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
4. Ehnert, I., Harry, W. and Zink, K.J., 2014. Sustainability and HRM. In Sustainability and Human Resource Management(pp. 3-32). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
5. Hurn, B., 2014. The challenges facing international HRM in an increasingly globalised environment. Industrial and commercial training, 46(7), pp.371-378.
6. Jiang, K., Lepak, D.P., Hu, J. and Baer, J.C., 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of management Journal, 55(6), pp.1264-1294.
7. Paauwe, J., 2009. HRM and performance: Achievements, methodological issues and prospects. Journal of Management studies, 46(1), pp.129-142..
8. Patrick Neumann, W. and Dul, J., 2010. Human factors: spanning the gap between OM and HRM. International journal of operations & production management, 30(9), pp.923-950
9. Scullion, H. and Collings, D., 2011. Global talent management. Routledge.
10. Sparrow, P. and Cooper, C.L., 2012. The employment relationship: Key challenges for HR. Routledge.
11. Story, J.S., Barbuto, J.E., Luthans, F. and Bovaird, J.A., 2014. Meeting the challenges of effective international HRM: Analysis of the antecedents of global mindset. Human Resource Management, 53(1), pp.131-155.
12. Tarique, I. and Schuler, R.S., 2010. Global talent management: Literature review, integrative framework, and suggestions for further research. Journal of world business, 45(2), pp.122-133.