Organisations and the Transformation of the Labour Market - Literature review Example

Running Header: Human Resource Management Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Institution: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction In the recent past, the concept of human resource management (HRM) has become one of the key issues in the management of firms. This is because of the role they play in the performance of the company (Thompson 2003). The business environment under which the firms are operating has become very competitive and thus prompting different firms to rethink about their strategies. Human resource management refers to distinctive processes that are employed by the human resource function with the primary objective of enabling the company to compete favorably with the in their respective industries. Particularly, firms are geared towards employing skilled workforce that can be able to deliver on the company objectives. Human resource management is a very wide concept which takes into account the organizational activities that are directed at managing individuals towards realizing organizational goals (Sennett 2006). In addition, HRM takes into account the role the employees play in increasing the profitability of the company. Further, human resource management can be defined in relation to the established patterns and pre-planned activities that utilize the available resources in order to achieve its objectives. However, from the internal context, the firms are also interested in employing different human resource practices and procedures as part of realigning themselves with requirements of specific countries’ industrial relations. In general, having an effective human resource team is very critical especially when the company is faced with challenges. Having a good a human resource team can be synonymously used to mean a successful company in the contemporary business environment. A good example is the company takes into consideration the issues that affect employees such as safer working environment, fair working conditions and payment of good wages (Thompson 2003). These and many other HRM practices are aimed at reducing industrial actions which always cause disruptions to the operations of the business. The objective of this essay in particular is to critically analyze the human resource management concept and their relative importance to the respective organizations. Human resource management is known to influence the way in which individuals behave at workplace. Human resource management activities such as staffing and training, development, appraisals and compensation management, provision of safe and quality working environment as well the management of industrial relations, are very critical in ensuring that the business is performing as expected. According to McGovern et al (2004), HRM is one factor that can determine whether the employees are satisfied and ready to remain committed to the organization. This is basically if the models used satisfy their needs. In a working environment, there are several employee management models that are being used. Grimshaw et al (2008), argues that not only HRM helps the company create a conducive working environment but also help sort out common mistakes such as industrial actions which can be very costly to the company. Flexibility at workplace is one such model of human resource management that can be used to ensure that the workers are able to adapt quickly to a working environment. Work flexibility from the HRM context can be related to how well the job content is outlines and if it has an element of security in it. Security at job is directly related to creation of loyalty among the employees. According to Edwards and Wajcman (2005), flexibility can be both negative and positive depending on how it is used. Since flexibility is about the employer and the employee, in some cases the employees may benefit in circumstances where the relationship between the two is mutual. However, if flexibility is only from the employer, it is common that there will be no connection between employee policies and the family friendly policies. This is because it’s more common that flexibility can either be either employee friendly or employer friendly. In this case therefore flexibility in most instances cannot be employee friendly as this will perceived to be very costly for the employer. Those practices that are flexible are always employer friendly are aimed at minimizing operational costs and at the same lower employee commitment thus creating ground for terminations of contracts at very short notices and thus subjecting the employee into greater job insecurity. In essence good HRM have a solution to offer to this practice where the employer takes the advantage of flexibility to subject the employee’s job into great insecurity where it can be terminated at any time. Quality of working environment has been subject of debate as one of the HRM models. Quality of work life is expected to take into consideration both the needs of the employer and employee. Quality work life has also been debated on the labour market and thereby prompting many organizations to reconsider their management styles in order to have positive change among the employees. However, the issue of quality of work life looks rather ambiguous. This is because of the different backgrounds of the employees. This is because it’s not easy to explain how different and varying issues of employees can be taken care under just one policy. To help solve some of the challenges associated with quality work life, the HRM is expected to at least take some of the essential characteristics and those that are viewed to multi-dimensional and then combine them to come up one single practice that can address them (Edwards and Wajcman 2005). Quality work life is also related to the experiences under which the employees go through while at work, rewards and stress management processes. These issues are individual and different persons react to them differently once subjected to any social environment, administrative practices and relationship between work life and personal life. Given the complexity of the model, depending on how it’s implemented by the HRM, it can be both constructive and destructive to the organization. Among several employees, quality of work is looked at from the extent to which it takes into consideration the balance between work life and personal life. This raises the element of working hours. Despite the United Kingdom known as one of the European countries that have long working hours, the trend has started to change slowly even though there is a small variation between the time worked by men and women. Employee empowerment has also been considered as one key component of human resource management. Employee empowerment is linked with job preference. This is because one is allowed to do what he knows best without being forced by the employer. This model is particularly based on balance of employee’s skills and qualifications. This means that employees with certain skills will be independent to perform their functions without the interference of the employer. According to Thompson (2003), in many occasions, the employees in the labor market have higher qualifications than required to perform certain functions. This is therefore become very tricky for the employer to balance on what he wants as a skill and qualification. At workplace the challenge is also the same. This is because the employer finds it difficult to manage someone who already has more than required qualifications to be declared fit for a particular job. To some level, employee empowerment is also expected to address the scenario where employees are under-employed and more particularly the dissatisfaction it causes. Human resource management is also very critical in providing solutions to underlying issues more particular culture. HRM seeks to ensure that proper culture is placed in placed in place in order to push the company towards working to its goals. Good culture is aimed at unifying the employees together through the process of sharing common work values such as quality and innovation as well as service. These values are identifiable with the employees and therefore HRM is charged with the responsibility of making sure that these elements are cultivated among all the employees. However, in some occasions, tension is likely where there is a very strong culture and thereby the need to come with ways in which to adapt to new changes and to remain flexible especially in a very volatile environment where the employees are expected to work in (Caldwell 2003). In an environment where the operating environment is continuously changing, strong culture is perceived as a failure as it will be very difficult to mould employees to fit into the new working environments. The role of the HRM can therefore not be underlet in making sure that good culture is embraced which can allow for easy adjustment incase need arises. This is after it has been established that strong organizational culture and employee commitment as well as adaptability carries a lot of paradoxes The concept of HRM in the recent past has been a core discussion of industrial relations. This is perhaps because of the ways in which HRM deals with industrial relations (IR) and more especially managing of conflicts that arise between the employees and the employers. It is argued that HRM is very critical and can be used as reconciling factor on the industrial conflicts. In this case therefore the role of HRM is very critical and it matters in many aspects of the company. First, a part from ensuring that goods and services are offered on time, the HRM is also charged with the responsibility of establishing employment terms which can meet the interests of the employer, the employees and the community at large (Edwards and Wajcman 2005). This is particularly aimed at building open negotiations where each party is given a chance to give his part of opinion. By doing this, the HRM will be helping in sorting out some of the conflicts that may arise later as a result of the contracts entered into between the employer and the employee. The end result is the reduced occurrences of industrial actions. This is because HRM has the capacity to encourage consensus building and thereby ensuring that the agreement reached is win-win situation. The HRM has also the capacity to established better mechanisms of communications that can be used to enhance consultation and cooperation among the key stakeholders in an effort to solve issues related to workplace. This can also be further enhanced to consultations and discussions between the enterprise and the industry. This is particularly important in making sure that the labor policies at national level are adhered to (Hoque and Noon 2004). The HRM seeks also to avoid the issues that involve disputes between the employers and the employees as well as their representatives. This is more so done through negotiations and use of other dispute settlement mechanisms. I do believe this approach by the HRM plays a very great role in making sure that industrial actions are avoided and that solutions are provided for when required. Finally, as part of responding to the terms of Work, Employment and Society (WES), the HRM responds accordingly by ensuring that social protection is offered for all employees including work security and safety as well as health. HRM also ensures that child labor is prohibited at all costs. In general HRM plays a human resource management role as opposed to attending to collective industrial relations even though some of its functions do overlap. This is because the process of handling individual grievances falls fairly well within the HRM umbrella but incase the grievances involve several employees, it becomes an IR issue (Beltrán-Martín et al 2008). Following the recent changes in the government policies on labor, the employers are required to allow their employees to join trade unions as one way of making sure that their grievances are presented by officials who have the mandate to negotiate on behalf of them. At the national level, this is a very important aspect of the HRM as it presents the employer in the negotiations. In general, the HRM is like a reconciler between the employer and the employer and can also play a very important role in making sure that employee issues are tackled earlier enough before they become industrial issues. Conclusion Based on this review it’s important to highlight that HRM in the contemporary economic environment is getting more meaning. This because of the role it plays in achieving the company objectives. HRM models such as job security, flexibility and quality of work, are being addressed with the objective of making sure that employees are satisfied and therefore remain committed to their employers. Generally, HRM plays an important role in making sure that some of the issues related to employee-employer are avoided earlier enough in order to avoid the occurrence of disputes that may lead into industrial actions. References Beltrán-Martín, I., Roca-Puig, V., Escrig-Tena, A. and Bou-Llusar, J 2008, Human resource flexibility as a mediating variable between high performance work systems and performance, Journal of Management, vo. 34, p. 1009–1044. Caldwell, R 2003, The Changing Roles of Personnel Managers: Old Ambiguities, New Uncertainties, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 4, p. 40. Edwards, P., and Wajcman, J. 2005, The Politics of Working Life, Oxford Univ. Press. Grimshaw, D., Ward, K., Rubery, J. and Beynon, H. (2008), Organisations and the transformation of the internal labour market, Work, Employment and Society, vol. 15, no. 1, p. 25–54. Hoque, K., &, Noon, M. 2004, 'Equal Opportunities Policy and Practice in Britain: evaluating the 'empty shell' hypothesis', WES, vol. 18, no. 3, p. 481-506.  McGovern, P., Smeaton, D. and Hill, S. 2004, Bad jobs in Britain: Non-standard employment and job quality, Work and Occupations, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 225–49. Sennett, R. 2006, The Culture of the New Capitalism, Yale University Press. Thompson, P. 2003, Disconnected capitalism: Or why employers can’t keep their side of the bargain, Work Employment and Society, vol. 17, no. 2, p. 359–78. Read More