The field of Human Resource Management is developing very fast & every department of human activity is realizing its importance in the smooth functioning of the organization. Innovative techniques are developed to improve the work culture, so that the employees are motivated to give in their best to the organization. There is tough competition everywhere & to survive with grace, one will have to accept the changes in this modern world and adopt the latest human resources practices. Those who refuse to change will be left behind & will have to accept defeat. So it is imperative to implement the latest human resource practices in the organization. The latest techniques in the field of Human Resource Development are:
Employees for Lease
Sometimes the organizations depend upon consultancy agencies
or individual consultants for their expertise to tap and utilize their
expert knowledge. The consultancy agencies offer expert advice
and the execution of the advice is left to the employees of the
organization. The employees may in some of the cases fail to covert
the know-how into a project. Under such circumstances, new types
of organizations will emerge, which would be called as Employee
Leasing Organization. These leasing organizations will be principal
employers and send the required number and kind of employees to
various organizations on lease basis. They collect the fee & other
charges from various industries & pay the salaries, provide benefits
to the employees. The Leasing Company will pay complete salary
and benefits to the employees irrespective of the number of days that
the employee is sent to various organizations on lease. This type of
agreement is beneficial to the leasing company, specialist employees
and the industry. The industry with limited budget can utilize the
expert advice & service of most competent human resources.
Moonlighting by Employees
This is a situation, which arises among employees on account of
dissatisfaction from present wage & salary structure. They feel that
employer enjoys the increased profit and that they are being exploited
by the employer. Consequently they agitate for hike in wages or take
up another part-time job or business simultaneously with that of the
original job. This is also known as Double Jobbing.
Moonlighting by employees affects almost all the functions of Human
Resource Management. The effects of Moonlighting would be mostly
negative & it poses challenges to the personnel manager. Presently
very limited number of employees does moonlighting, but the number
of employees will go on increasing due to change in employee
values & expectations. Management will have to take all possible
care in selection process about the possibility of moonlighting by the
prospective candidates.
Dual Career Groups
There has been a tremendous increase in the number of female
employees in all types of organizations due to: -
Increased career orientation among women in recent years.
Creation of variety of jobs.
higher level commitment
Better performance.
Less demanding & agitate oriented.
Economic Freedom.
Better Social Status.
Aspirations for quality of work life.
Due to dual career groups, both wife & husband will be loaded with
grievances & problems as both of them share their problems, both at
work and off the job. In view of overloading of the problems to both
the members in dual career groups, they spend heir time and energy
in solving the problems or in getting the grievances redressed for both
the parties. So, there will be possibility of less commitment to the
work in the organization by both the parties.
Due to this new trend in HR, in a nutshell, the HR manager should
treat people as resources, reward them equitably, and integrate their
aspirations with corporate goals through suitable HR policies.
Flexi-time & Flexi-work
The number of hours in a day, number of days in a week and work
schedule when the worker has to perform is normally stated in the
Job Description. The concept of Flexi-time has been introduced
in order to suit the convenience of the workers without affecting
the organizational functioning. Flexi-time is a program that allows
flexible entry and leaving times for employees. Flexi-time increases
productivity, decline in absenteeism, and reduction in employee
turnover & increase in morale. Flexi-work - It is a program that
allows flexibility in handling the type of work in various departments
of the organizations in systematic way by the employee during his
tenure of employment in an organization. For example, a candidate
may be selected as a clerk in the Personnel Department and after two
years he may be allowed to take up work in any other department of
the organization.
Training & Development
Organizations spend a lot of time and resources in training, developing
and educating their employees in tune with the job awareness and
organizations’ requirements. This is mostly due to the absence of
linkage between the industry and universities. Organizations in future
will establish their own educational institutes. These institutes will
frame their course curriculum to suit the requirements of various
jobs in the organization as a whole. These institutes will go on
changing the course curriculum depending upon the changes in
technology, work methods, production process and activities and so
on. The intake of these institutes depends on exclusive requirements
of organization. After the completion of the course, the candidate
will be awarded a diploma and absorbed by the organization. This
management arrangement will automatically take care of the problem
of unemployment and underemployment. This arrangement will also
minimize the duration of time to be spent by the candidate in his
educational process.
Management Participation in Employees’ Organizations
With the formation and recognition of employees’ organizations,
the management cannot make unilateral decisions those affect
employee relationship directly or indirectly. Decisions relating to
policies on employment, training, transfer, promotion, adoption
of latest technology etc. are no longer determined by unilateral
action of management and must now be discussed with the
representatives of employees’ organizations. Decisions on the policies
and administration may still rest with management, but they are
frequently subject to question and criticism by union representatives
under a formal grievance procedure. This technique enables the two
parties to exchange ideas, opinions, information and knowledge to
understand each other’s viewpoint, with an open mind and thereby
avoid all misunderstandings. Thus, the management representatives
may provide effective plans, suggestions, advice organization and
directions for sound management and functioning of federations and
unions for the common good of both the parties.
Collective Bargaining
It is an institutional process for solving problems arising directly out
of employer-employee relationships. Through collective bargaining,
the two parties become responsive to each other. Employees ventilate
their problems relating to wages, employee benefits etc. while the
management puts forth its demands regarding employee co-operation
and commitment so as to maximize its profits. Thus, the two parties
discuss the problem and each party tries to solve the problems of the
other. The scope of collective bargaining is wider as the solutions for
common problems can be found directly through negotiations between
both the parties.
Collaborative Management
It is the general practice that the owners and/or their representatives
manage the organization. But most of the organizations have started
allowing their employees to participate in management. It is viewed
that different parties concerned with the organizational activities will
manage the organization through participation. Such type of
management system is referred as ‘Collaborative Management’.
Employee’s participation in management was initiated to
satisfy workers’ psychological needs, to develop a sense of
belongingness and loyalty to the organization.
Recommendations
Change is the law of nature. It is necessary way of life in different
circles. Though there may be some discontentment during the
early days of change, people learn to meet the changes and adopt
themselves to the changing situations. The management in future will
try to:
Give up authoritarian style of leadership and adopt participative style
of leadership.
Follow human relations approach and partnership approach towards
employees.
Encourage creative skills and abilities and reward those talents.
Shift the emphasis from legal and rule bounded approach.
Participate in trade union activities; recognize human resource as a
profit centre and as a basic instrument to earn profits rather than as a
cost centre.
Understand the fact that human resource management will dominate
all other functional areas of management.
Further, the role of all Personnel Manager will also change. Those
changes will be as follows:
Personnel manager and individual manager will give emphasis on
overall development of human resources.
Human Resource Management function will be extended to cover
career planning and development, organization and development,
organize climate, role analysis, national wage policy, social justice etc.
Today competition is very tough and if an organization has to survive
in the race gracefully, it has to constantly upgrade its skills and
sharpen its capabilities. Many new techniques are implemented in the
organizations to motivate the employees and to help them perform to
their optimum capacity. By using the above-mentioned techniques and
many other programs, the organization tries to make the workers and
employees more competent, committed & comfortable to do a given
job.
Conclusion
Human resource management is a process of bringing people and
organizations together so that the goals of each other are met. The
role of HR manager is shifting from that of a protector and screener to
the role of a planner and change agent. Over the years, highly skilled
and knowledge based jobs are increasing while low skilled jobs are
decreasing.
HR Managers should concentrate on the following areas to ensure
success: -
Use workforce skills and abilities in order to exploit environmental
opportunities and neutralize threats.
Employ innovative reward plans that recognize employee
contributions and grant enhancements.
Indulge in continuous quality improvement through TQM and HR
contributions like training, development, counseling, etc.
Utilize people with distinctive capabilities to create unsurpassed
competence in an area.
Decentralize operations and rely on self-managed teams to deliver
goods in difficult times e.g. Motorola is famous for short product
development cycles. It has quickly commercialized ideas from its
research labs.