How the Current External Business Environment Impacts upon Job Design, HRP - Essay Example

How the Current External Business Environment Impacts Upon Job Design, HRP and Staffing For Current and Future Organisational Needs Name: University: Date: How the Current External Business Environment Impacts Upon Job Design, HRP and Staffing For Current and Future Organisational Needs Introduction Human resource management according to Friedman (2007) is enormously impacted by globalisation, and HRM practices have been altered globally because of the external impacts such as political, economic, technological, and legal factors that have an effect on the business management practices. For this reason, there the need to understand the external factors impact on HR functions is stronger. In the present competitive business environment, HR functions are considered as crucial functions that have an effect on organisational performance; since competitive advantage can only be offered by human resource (Savaneviciene & Stankeviciute, 2011). In view of this, the rapidly changing business environment according to Savaneviciene and Stankeviciute (2011) is the most crucial issue that current organisations should address. As it will be evidenced in this paper, there are numerous external business factors that have an effect on the both the responsibilities and roles of HR managers as well as HR functions in the organisations. Globally, technological advancement and economic conditions are amongst the most crucial factors that impact HR functions in the organisations. Circumstances such as political, legal, and economic, as well as demographic factors are a number of external business factors that impact HR functions. In the current business environment, basic and the traditional HR practices are turning out to be inconsequential. The paper seeks to critically analyse as well as evaluate how job design, HRP and staffing for current and future organisational needs are impacted by the current external business environment. Moreover, the areas where above-mentioned HR functions could be improved to better match business needs will be identified. Job Design Job design as defined by Fahr (2011) is the requirement of methods, contents as well as relationship of jobs with the purpose of satisfying organisational requirements and the personal as well as social specifications of the job holder. That is to say, job design is concerned with specifying the job contents, the work techniques utilised in its performance as well as how the job is associated with other organisational jobs. Currently, environmental elements impact almost all HR functions, including job design. As mentioned by Aswathappa (2005), the external business impacts having a bearing on job design are cultural and social expectations as well as employee availability and abilities. So, with regard to worker availability and abilities, the current work organisations when considering efficiency they have to balance against the availability as well as abilities of the individuals who will perform the work. For instance, when the assembly line was utilised by Henry Ford, he had prior knowledge that that the majority of the potential employees had no experience in making automobiles. Therefore, job design was simple and needed little training. From this perspective, contemporary business organisations should offer considerable thought to individuals who will essentially do the work. Based on cultural and social expectations, it is evident that securing a job in the past was a key consideration, whereby employees were ready to work on any kind of job as well as in any working environment. However, this does not happen any longer thanks to the considerable improvement in knowledge, literacy as well as awareness amongst employees. Therefore, the expectations of the workers on the job have increased considerably forcing organisations to design their jobs so as to meet the workers’ expectations. In the current epoch of globalisation, the effect of cultural factors on job design cannot be overlooked considering that it is a culture that develops the approach to job design so as to fit with its values. Cultural factors impacting job design is different in every country; for example, job enrichment was created in America, socio-technical was created in Northern Europe, and quality circles was created in Japan. The design of Job in the United States is not similar to that in Japan considering that U.S is a superpower with advanced military power, medical facilities, technology, education, and so forth. So, job design must fit the culture of Americans living in the land where great freedoms as well as opportunities are offered. As stated by (Zubaidah, 2010), U.S. culture is acknowledged for its equality, individuality and freedom; so, the job must be designed based on those three factors. On the other hand, the Northern European is perceived as a place where the autonomous work group came up with the job design concept, and they concentrate more on the group level instead of the individual level. As a result, the socio-technical approach is preferred by the Northern European organisations instead of job enrichment approach preferred by U.S companies. Japan is more different from the U.S and Northern Europe since organisations in this country consider collaboration, personal responsibility and politeness while designing a job. In view of this, Quality Control (QC) is amongst the successful job design developed by the Japanese, and its key goal is to bring about quality improvement, find problem as well as put solutions into practice (Zubaidah, 2010). For multinational companies, designing job have been affected by numerous predictable cultural and social differences such as working hours, vacations, holidays, spiritual beliefs, leadership and management styles, in addition to employee attitudes and sophistication. When such social expectations are not taken into account, the organisation can experience low motivation and dissatisfaction, poor productivity, and inability to attract talented and skilled potential workers. Human Resource Planning HRP has been defined by Armstrong (2006) as the constant systematic planning process aimed at achieving optimum utilisation of human resources, the most valuable organisational asset. Therefore, HRP key goal is to make certain the best fit between jobs and employees (Døving & Nordhaug, 2010). In this regard, labour demand projection, current labour supply analysis, as well as balancing labour supply and demand as per projections are the three main constituents of the HRP process. The external business environment impacting HRP may be grouped into legal-political, sociocultural, as well as economic factors. For instance, the continuous advancement of technology used in scores of industries needs intensive and extensive HR planning. Equally, the contemporary employees desire to be active participants in the process of decision making, so there is the need for HR planning. Considering that businesses are operating in an environment that is regulated, labour laws have power over trade union relationships, benefits programmes, and wages. In consequence, this impacts the labour quota of the company’s operating budget and may consequently make recruitment very costly, and may also force the company to lay off some employees in order to survive or overhaul its retirement benefits and health insurance. Moreover, organisations especially those that depend on low-skilled and seasonal employees always experience problems in their HR planning because of the increased minimum wages impacts. Organisations cannot overlook tax laws because it is an added cost to the company portion of Medicare, Social Security, as well as redundancy compensation levies. For instance, when income taxes are higher the consumer demand decreases forcing them to stop hiring. Furthermore, amendments to existing labour laws can create incentives for training and training employees, which consequently, stretches the payroll budget of the company. All of these have an effect on HR planning. According to Genç (2014), the state of the present economy is one of the key external business impacts upon the HR planning. For instance, in the 2007/2008 global financial crisis, the ability of companies to hire new employees was heavily impacted forcing companies to carry out internal recruitment. Moreover, the current laws on employment have to be supported by government policies on employment on issues such as workplace harassment, affirmative action, equality, among others. Legislative amendments in such as well as associated areas have an effect on recruitment process as well as on-boarding and training programmes. HR planning can also be affected by reprinting as well as updating manuals, handbooks, as well as web pages for employee self-service so as to align with the new laws and remain compliant. Besides that, technology impacts HR planning because it is changing how organisations are working as well as how that work is viewed by the employers and employees. As suggested by Genç (2014), by staying above the technological impacts, organisations through HR planning can easily ascertain ways through which technology impact the business. Confidentiality policies, the emerging of social media as well as utilisation of the mobile phone can be helpful in shaping the work environment. As mentioned above, government introduction of new workplace regulations have an effect on HR planning and this can be evidenced by multination companies operating in Bangladesh, the MNCs whereby only three foreign workers are required in their management. Therefore, HR planning should take into account the possible changes to budgets, markets as well as accessibility of potential applicants due to the latest political events and influences. For instance, HR Planning in Bangladesh must prepare a contingency plan for reduced productivity during blockades as well as strikes which normally leads to lower employees’ turnout because of safety concerns. Staffing Staffing can be defined as a process of assigning individuals to fill the roles within the organisational structure by means of a recruitment process. Akin to other HR functions, external business environment factors impact staffing in different ways. For instance, the economic environment that includes the competitive status quo regulates the external demand for, and supply of both managers and workers. Besides that, political and legal constraints have created the necessity for companies to adhere to guidelines and laws issued by different government’s institutions.  A number of laws have been passed globally, which promotes equal employment opportunity within working environments, and these laws also outlaw discriminating employment practices in terms of colour, race, national origin, age, race, or sex. In United States, equal employment opportunity is emphasised by the local, state, and federal laws and such laws have an effect on staffing. This is for the reason that recruitment as well as selection has to adhere to these laws. Moreover, this connotes that decision makers in such areas have to understand the laws as well as their impacts on the staffing function. As mentioned by Pylee (2009), there are numerous legal provisions that impact the organisational staffing policies. The 1959 Employment Exchange and 1986 Child Labour Act are some of the laws restricting free recruitment. Besides that, emerging industries are impacting staffing because industries that are experiencing above-average levels of growth are compelled to rapidly hire more staff. In United States, for instance, home, family, and individual health care services have turned out to be the fastest emerging fields. In such fields, employers are directly competing with each other for the top candidates (Franca & Pahor, 2012). Since the advent of 21st century, a significant progress has been made by women in attaining senior positions within the organisations. This has been attributed mainly to the laws governing fair practices in employment, shifting attitudes in the society towards women in the work environment, as well as the need for organisation to preserve their reputation by promoting skilled women to management positions. Staffing is also impacted by the competition nature for skilled employees as evidenced in India where there is intense competition amongst companies for recruiting talented managers both experienced and fresh, especially professionals in the information and technology. Competition for talented workers in India is so intense such that companies are recruiting students from reputed institutes such Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). Furthermore, companies have started changing their organisational cultures so as to retain their skilled workers and also provide high salaries. Technology also have an effect on staffing since it has changed the skills required in the workplace due to introduction of novel mobile tools and software that have forced HR departments to change their recruitment process and revise job descriptions. Areas that Need Improvements In the coming days, there will be need for managers both at local and global level to be oriented toward the public, endeavouring to adhere to the legitimate needs and the high ethical standards set by the government. In view of this, political and legal constraints need companies to adhere to guidelines and laws issued by different governments so as to overcome the various negative external business environment impacts. Organisations need to understand that social attributes of jobs are rapidly changing, and as the world changes to a service economy from the manufacturing economy, organisations will continue experiencing task interdependence. Therefore, companies must utilise teams, where jobs should be interconnected to and embedded in interpersonal relationships. Besides that, the work environment is changing, and employees’ desire for more control over their lives, schedules, duties and employers. This is a prospect for staffing companies to become the true labour force partner, facilitating business organisations to get innovative, on-demand resolutions to the acquisition of talent. However, in future organisations, especially in the developed country will experience worker shortage and so there is a need to come up with strategies for retaining talented workers so as to avoid possible shortage in future. Currently, there are no enough young workers to replace the retiring Baby Boomers, and this will create more staffing challenges in the future. Due to the continuous advancement of technology, organisations should train their employees so that they can effectively utilise technological systems espoused to improve performance and productivity and facilitate employees’ engagement. To remain competitive business organisations will have to search for ways to harness the social media recruiting power so as to fill vacant positions swiftly. Social media sites such as LinkedIn have positively impacted staffing in organisations because they bring transparency to in the recruitment process, and in a number of instances, they have levelled the knowledge industries’ playing field. Importantly, competitive advantage can be achieved by offering workers with opportunities to realise work-life balance in order for them to remain engaged and productive. Therefore, HR planning will be vital for launching such programmes, but organisations will have to cautiously evaluate how flexibility in the work environment can be realised. Considering that change in work hours can cripple a number of business units, particularly when workers work cross-functionally with the intention of supporting numerous business areas. Therefore, issues that should be addressed so as to be successful in HR functions includes, espousing new technology in the workplace and motivating workers by adhering to government rules on equality, diversity, and minimum wage. To sum up, as suggested by Wang and Shyu (2008) companies should concentrate on innovation as well as the introduction of new products and/or services. Conclusion In conclusion, it has been argued that there are numerous external factors that impact HR functions in the organisation. As argued above, changes in laws impact the functionality of HR functions, such as occupational safety regulations changes, amendments of minimum wage laws, or introduction of workplace discrimination laws. Besides that, technology as exhibited in the paper, has an effect on HR functions since the roles and responsibilities of employees have to be changed as technology changes so as to make sure the confidential information of the employee remains private and protected. Furthermore, cultural and social factors have an effect on HR functions with regard to religious holidays, spiritual beliefs, styles of leadership, employees’ attitudes, among other factors. References Armstrong, M. (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. New York: Kogan Page Publishers. Aswathappa, K. (2005). Human Resource And Personnel Management. Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Døving, E., & Nordhaug, O. (2010). Investing in Human Resource Planning: An International Study. Management Revue, 21(3), 292-307. Fahr, R. (2011). Job Design and Job Satisfaction – Empirical Evidence for Germany? Management Revue, 22(1), 28-46. Franca, V., & Pahor, M. (2012). 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Culture as a moderator of job design. Tilburg University. Tilburg, Netherlands: Arficita Zubaidah. Read More