Issues in the HR Management in the Workplace

 

EMERGING ISSUES IN HR MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management is adopted by many companies and organizations because of its significant benefits. But at the same time, various challenges and issues may emerge in the workplace. These challenges and issues may come in many shapes and forms. They also may vary in seriousness and complexity, depending on the challenges and where the company is located and operates. The management of Human Resources has now assumed strategic importance in the achievement of organizational growth and excellence. As globalization advances and we move into the information age, organizations need to adapt to the changes in technology and the changing issues in management of people.

                                                Some critical issues have clearly emerged-planning, acquisition, and development of human resources, responding to the demands of the workplace and, above all, evolving a strategy of dealing with industrial conflict. As a management practice, it covers all the conventional areas of personnel management and industrial relations, as well as the relatively new areas such as communication, counselling, training and development and job enrichment.

 

CURRENT ISSUES IN HR MANAGEMENT

According to the businesstopia.net website the following issues in HR management can be identified;

   Less Employee Retention

Hiring employees is not only the challenge that the HR management faces but also retaining the qualified and talented human resources is essential and crucial part in HR management. This is a major issue that the organizations face due to reasons such as having a contingent workforce and also having a higher demand of expert employees. The company needs to focus on motivational methods and should initiate financial incentives programs to mitigate the issue.

 

2.    Maintaining Discipline

Discipline is one of the important issues that HR management of a company needs to handle at present days. Lack of discipline causes various problems which ultimately affect the productivity of the company.

For an instance, when discipline is not maintained, employees neglect their responsibilities and duties. They may procrastinate their tasks and may misbehave with co-workers, leading to a conflict that consumes time as well as energy to resolve. The ultimate result of these activities is decreased productivity of the company. It is the duty of the HR practitioners and managers to initiate a “Code of Conduct” to control the behaviour of each and every individual of the organization.

 

3.    Training of Employees

Skilled workers and professionals are required for the smooth functioning of the organization. Therefore, it is the duty of the Human Resources management to provide the required training to both on-site as well as off-site employees. It is a challenge to the HR management since the management needs to consider the factors such as training period (time), cost, place, and future inflow of benefits and making a clear roadmap in establishing such impactful event.

 Apart from the above examples, Jasmin Comoda explains Three Issues in HRM further in her article Trends & Issues in Human Resource Management

 

1.    An Aging Workforce

HR professionals and practitioners will spend much of their time on concerns related to retirement, planning, retaining older workers, and motivating worker whose careers have reached a plateau. And also the organizations will also have to struggle with ways to control the rising costs of health care (insurance) and other benefits. Another issue that the management has to face to is supervising employees much older than themselves. So, as the solution the organizations have to find ways to attract, retain, and prepare the youth labour for its operations.

  

2.    Challenges of Diversity in the Workplace

Perceptual, cultural and language barriers need to be overcome for diversity programs to succeed. Ineffective communication of key objectives results in confusion, lack of teamwork, and low morale thereby leading to overall low productivity. It is the duty and the responsibility of the HR management to create a less conflict working environment for each and every individual. With more diversification of workforce, issues related to bullying, harassment, discrimination, etc may arise, to control which HRM should formulate and implement strict rules and regulations.

 

 

3.    Skill Deficiencies of the Workforce

Today employers are looking for skills such as computer skills, communication skills, analytical skills etc. The gap between the skills needed and the skills available has decreased companies’ ability to compete with its competitors. So, it is the duty and the responsibility of the HR management to give proper training which are required for the specific job roles.

                                                                                               

REFERENCES

1.    Goodall, K., and M. Warner. 1999. Enterprise reform, labor-management relations, and human resource management in a multinational context. International Studies of Management and Organization

2.    Huselid, M.A. 1995. The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal

3.    Hackman, J.R. and G.R. Oldham. 1976. Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance

4.    Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 14(12): 1727-1730, 2013

5.    Challenges and Issues in Human Resource Management: By Palistha Maharajan