Human Resource Assignment by

Dr. Cordula BARZANTNY

Please write a short (approx. 2300 words) analysis & reflection on the following
questions:

What are the HRM problems you identify in your professional environment today?

What will be, according to your perception and experience, the challenges for the
future of HRM?

What solutions can you suggest that might help meet these challenges?

Please illustrate your work with professional examples of your company experience.

1) What are the HRM problems you identify in your professional

environment today?
The environment faced by HR management is a challenging one; changes
are occurring rapidly across a wide range of issues. A study by the Hudson
Institute, entitled Workforce 2020, has highlighted some of the most important
workforce issues. From that and other sources, it appears that the most prevalent
challenges facing HR management are as follows:

1. Economic and technological change

2. Globalization of business
3. Workforce availability and quality concerns
4. Demographics and diversity issues
5. Organizational restructuring
The environment faced by human resource is challenging one; changes are occurring rapidly
across a wide range of issues. It appears that the most prevalent challenges facing HR
management are as follows:
Globalization

At a political and economic level, globalization is the process of denationalization of markets,

politics and legal systems i.e. the use of the so-called global economy. Globalization refers to an
extension beyond national borders of the same market forces that have operated for centuries at
all levels of human economic activity (village markets, urban industries, or financial centers). It
means that world trade and financial markets are becoming more integrated.
Growing internationalization of business has its impact on HRM in terms of problems of
unfamiliar laws, languages, practices, competitions, attitudes, management styles, work ethics
etc. HR managers have a challenge to deal with more functions, more heterogeneous functions
and more involvement in employees personal life.
Workforce Diversity

According to Thomas (1992), dimensions of workplace diversity include, but are not limited to:
age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational
background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs,

parental status, and work experience. The role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with
the change in competitive market environment and the realization that Human Resource
Management must play a more strategic role in the success of an organization. Organizations that
do not put their emphasis on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in dire
consequences, as their competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic employment of their
human resources.
With the increase in competition, locally or globally, organizations must become more adaptable,
resilient, agile, and customer-focused to succeed. And within this change in environment, the HR
professional has to evolve to become a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate, and a
change mentor within the organization. In order to succeed, HR must be a business driven
function with a thorough understanding of the organizations big picture and be able to influence
key decisions and policies. In general, the focus of todays HR Manager is on strategic personnel
retention and talents development. HR professionals will be coaches, counselors, mentors, and
succession planners to help motivate organizations members and their loyalty. The HR manager
will also promote and fight for values, ethics, beliefs, and spirituality within their organizations,
especially in the management of workplace diversity.
The future success of any organizations relies on the ability to manage a diverse body of talent
that can bring innovative ideas, perspectives and views to their work. The challenge and
problems faced of workplace diversity can be turned into a strategic organizational asset if an
organization is able to capitalize on this melting pot of diverse talents. With the mixture of talents
of diverse cultural backgrounds, genders, ages and lifestyles, an organization can respond to
business opportunities more rapidly and creatively, especially in the global arena, which must be
one of the important organizational goals to be attained. More importantly, if the organizational
environment does not support diversity broadly, one risks losing talent to competitors. This is
especially true for multinational companies (MNCs) who have operations on a global scale and
employ people of different countries, ethical and cultural backgrounds. Thus, a HR manager
needs to be mindful and may employ a Think Global, Act Local approach in most circumstances.
With a population of only four million people and the nations strive towards high technology and
knowledge-based economy; foreign talents are lured to share their expertise in these areas. Thus,
many local HR managers have to undergo cultural-based Human Resource Management training

to further their abilities to motivate a group of professional that are highly qualified but culturally
diverse. Furthermore, the HR professional must assure the local professionals that these foreign
talents are not a threat to their career advancement. In many ways, the effectiveness of workplace
diversity management is dependent on the skilful balancing act of the HR manager.
Technological advances

There is a challenging task of adapting workplace to rapid technological changes which

influence the nature of work and generate obsolescence Advanced technology has tended to
reduce the number of jobs that require little skill and to increase the number of jobs that require
considerable skill, a shift we refer to as moving from touch labour to knowledge work.. There is
new-new working technology. In this situation organizations have to change it technology. New
technology creates unemployment and in other hand, there comes scarcity of skilled manpower.
Like this, technological change brings difficulties and challenges in organization.
Changes in political and legal environment

Changes in political and legal environment means changes in political parties and rules
regulation due to which new laws are come and you have to follow all laws while doing
business. Many changes taking place in the legal and political framework within which the
industrial relation system in the country is now functioning. It is the duty of human resource and
industrial relations executives to fully examine the implication, of these changes and brings
about necessary adjustment within the organization so that later utilization of human resource
can be achieved. It is the responsibility of Human Resource manager to anticipate the changes
and prepare organization to face them without any breakdown in its normal functioning. Aviation
industry in India is highly regulated market so airlines face lot of hurdles in operating.
Changes in the Economic Environment

This includes examination of the impact of a number of factors on production. Some of the key
factors are the scarcity of raw materials and other inputs including power and electricity,
encouragement of the culture of consumerism, increasing consumer awareness and demand for
quality products, continuing upward trend in the inflationary pressures with decrease in the
purchasing power of rupee and its spiraling effects in the ever increasing aspirations of workers
for higher wages and other material benefits and mounting costs on the employee welfare and
other benefits. In an inflationary economy, the resources tend to become scarce and the costs of
machine, materials and labour multiply. These push up the capital and running costs.

Revolution in Information Technology

Information technology has influenced HRM through human resources information systems
(HRIS) that streamline the processing of data and make employee information more readily
available to managers. More recently, there has been and in the future there will be impact of
revolutionary computerized information system in the management it covers two primary areas
Application of computer in the managerial decision making process
1. Use of electronic computers managerial decision making process
2. In future computerized information system will have increasing impact at the coordinate and
strategic levels of organization
Indigo airline is the most tech savvy airline in India or may be in world because their promoter is
running technology company (INTERGLOBE TECHNOLOGIES) for more then 20 years which
was providing solutions to airline as well as travel operator. So he sensed that technology is the
way to go and always ready to invest more to get future benefits (Electronic Flight Bag are
introduced in INDIGO, only airline in India.
Organizational Restructuring

Many organizations have restructured in the past few years in order to become more competitive.
Also, mergers and acquisitions of firms in the same industries have been made to ensure global
competitiveness. The mega-mergers in the banking, petroleum, and telecommunications
industries have been very visible, but mergers and acquisitions of firms in many other industries
have increased in recent years. As part of the organizational changes, many organizations have
right sized either by (1) eliminating layers of managers, (2) closing facilities, (3) merging with
other organizations, or (4) outplacing workers. A common transformation has been to flatten
organizations by removing several layers of management and to improve productivity, quality,
and service while also reducing costs. As a result, jobs are redesigned and people affected. One
of the challenges that HR management faces with organizational restructuring is dealing with the
human consequences of change. The human cost associated with downsizing has been much
discussed in the popular press: a survivors mentality for those who remain,
Unfulfilled cost savings estimates, loss of loyalty, and many people looking for new jobs.

Whereas many large firms have cut jobs by reducing their workforces, many smaller firms have
continued to create jobs. This is particularly true in high technology industries, such as software
development. These entrepreneurial firms are faced with growth, while trying to attract sufficient
workers with flexible capabilities and to conserve financial resources.

Mobility of Professional Personnel

One of the interesting facts will be increase in the mobility of various managerial and
professional personnel between the organizations. As individual develop greater technical and
professional expertise, their services will be greater demand by organization in the environment.
As sometimes our organization is called aviation factory as it is growing at very rapid pace and it
is making trainee pilots to copilots and copilots to captains at rapid rate but after getting trained
people move to greener pastures in middle east or south east asia as standard of living is better
there and ours is low cost airline with single type of aircraft (narrow body A320) and pilots want
to fly full service carrier and look for wide body experience.
2 What will be, according to your perception and experience, the
challenges for the future of HRM?

The first corner stone to achieve is the development of new initiatives, programs and
agendas. Human Resources must move beyond being the police of policy and regulatory
guard which is the perception. Instead, HR must be the pioneers in assisting the
organizations achieve results, especially by helping employees to enhance their capabilities
to ensure organizational objectives are met.
The future of HR depends on its ability to align HR with the changes that are happening in
the workplace and the economy. New models of competitiveness are needed so that
organizations can better service their customers. Consequently HR must be the champions to
help gear employees to provide added value.
The new approach of HR is to emphasize new mindsets and new ways of thinking about
business instead of sticking to policies and bureaucratic patterns. HR professionals should
and must focus on cultural change, and the development of human capital, especially in
international organizations. Think globally. Act locally.

HR should sponsor a model of change, which will help the employees adapt to and be
comfortable with changes. Here, a lot of question may arise, such as: How do we decide
which practices to be transformed and which should be kept for purpose of continuity? How
do we change and learn rapidly? How do we honor the past yet change the future? How do
we capture the hearts and minds of employees?

Future of HRM
The success of organizations increasingly depends on people-embodied know-how- the
knowledge, skill, Attitude.

Nature of HRM:
HRM involves management functions like planning, organizing, staffing, directing
and controlling.
It involves procurement, development, maintenance and management of human
resource.
It helps to achieve individual, organizational and social objectives.
HRM is a mighty disciplinary subject. It includes the study of management
psychology communication, economics and sociology.
It involves team spirit and team work.
HRM plays important role in creating organizations and helping them survive. Our world is
an Organizational world. We are surrounded by organizations and we participate in them as
members, Employees, customers, and clients. Most of our life is spent in organization, and
they supply the goods and services on which we depend to live. Organizations on the other
hand depend on people, and without people, they would disappear.

Factors Contributing to challenges and future of HRM

Accommodation to workers' needs

Workers are demanding that organizations accommodate their personal needs by instituting
such programs as flexible work schedules, parental leave, child-care and elder-care
assistance, and job sharing. The human resource department plays a central role in

establishing and implementing policies designed to reduce the friction between

organizational demands and family responsibilities.
Increased complexity of the Managers job

Management has become an increasingly complex and demanding job for many reasons,
including foreign competition, new technology, expanding scientific information, and rapid
change. Therefore, organizations frequently ask human resource managers for assistance in
making strategic business decisions and in matching the distinctive competencies of the
firm's human resources to the mission of the organization. Executives need assistance from
the human resource department in matters of recruitment, performance evaluation,
compensation, and discipline.
Legislation and litigation

The enactment of state laws has contributed enormously to the proliferation and importance
of human resource functions. The record keeping and reporting requirements of the laws are
so extensive that to comply with them, many human resource departments must work
countless hours and often must hire additional staff. Four areas that have been influenced
most by legislation include equal employment, Compensation, safety, and labor relations. An
organization's failure to comply with laws regulating these areas can result in extremely
costly back-pay awards, class action suits, and penalties.
Consistency

Human resource policies help to maintain consistency and equity within an organization.
Consistency is particularly important in compensation and promotion decisions. When
managers make compensation decisions without consulting the human resource department
the salary structure tends to become very uneven and unfair promotion decisions also may be
handled unfairly when the HR department does not coordinate the decision of individual
manger.
Expertise

Now days there exist sophisticated personnel activities that require special expertise. For
example, researchers have developed complex procedures for making employee-selection
decisions; statistical formulas that combine interviews, test scores, and application-blank
information have replaced the subjective interviews traditionally used in making selection

decisions. Similarly, many organizations have developed compensation systems with

elaborate benefits packages to replace simple hourly pay or piece rate incentive system
Cost of Human Resource

Human resource activities have become increasingly important because of the high cost of
personal problem. The largest single expense in most organizations is labor cost, which is
often considerably higher than the necessary because of such problems as absenteeism
tardiness and discrimination.
3 What solutions can you suggest that might help meet these
challenges?

The 1990s have been called the era of Employee Empowerment. This means the management
delegates as much power and authority as possible to low level employees to enable them to
make their own decisions and participate in the managerial decision-making as well. This way,
the employees will be more motivated and productive.
The empowerment process is effective under the following conditions:
The employee must be given adequate training and knowledge regarding his job and
responsibilities, which includes technical knowledge, decision-making skills and group
process skills.
Both employees and management share a common vision and goals, and are really
committed to achieve them.
both employees and management possess common values, in term of job implementation,
behavior standards and ethics.
Benefits and profits are to be shared together (shares, bonuses...)
Management should show and have trust in lower level employees.
How can we overcome with these challenges?
1. Cross cultural training of HR personnel so that they understand other cultural people

2. Motivate Professional personnel more and more so that do not change organization more
frequently financial motivation is not always required you can motivate through non-financial
motivation like encouragement, training of employee, job satisfaction
3. HR should adopt the change at internet speed.
4. Shifting HR strategy with changing economy strategy of HR should be agile, capable of
flexing and adaptive to changes in the economy.
5. Technical changes in the workplace often require the implementation of additional training for
workers. As training and development is generally the realm of the HR department, this creates
yet another challenge for human resource managers. HR must first determine what training is
necessary and then implement training measures to ensure all workers can keep up with technical
changes. Human resource managers must also determine when it may train existing employees,
and when it must search for new workers to fill technical positions within the organization
6. Training of HRIS Human resource information system should be given to the HR managers
or HR professional so that they can overcome Information Technology challenges.
7. Proper performance evaluation system and proper career development plans should be used in
the organization to reduce professional mobility.

Reshaping Human Resource Department is also required to

overcome these challenges
The changes, which affect the HR performance, are:

HR should not act as a therapy clinic

HR must measure their outcomes
HR practices must create value by increasing the organizations intellectual capital
HR must attempt to make employees committed to achieving organizational goals,

and not merely to make employees happy

HR practices must be aligned with company strategies
HR must champion the needs and development of employees and yet become partners
in the business
HR should receive corporate priority. Business firms should be ready to boost their
investment in staff development; this is rewarding on the long run if its properly
implemented

 HR should focus on the skills to be acquired taking into consideration the

understanding of the international dimensions of political, economic and social
development
HR should promote the collaboration between public training institutions, the
universities and the public sector in terms of planning an effective training program.
Do you remember a particular situation of cross-cultural encouners where you had a sort of
strange or difficult perception and feelings? Could you shortly describe this situation?
In the aftermath, Why do you think these difficulties occurred?
As aviation is one of the most globalized industry, so cross cultural encounters are very
frequent. So instead of penning down an ecounter,I will discuss about encounters generally I
have related to our industry particularly to our airline as it has made a name in aviation market
where indigo is synonym of ON TIME. Indians are generally taken as latecomers and it is felt
that they dont value time. As India was never industrial nation so there notion of going on time
to work for shift has never developed and now directly we are seeing our self in knowledge
economy and part of a more connected world where delivering projects on time and keeping
commitment is very important. In India where IST means Indian Stretchable Time rather then
Indian Standard Time, It is farfetched to ask somebody to come on time. Stature of VIP is known
by how late he arrives at particular function. Airline was coveted mode of transportation
reserved for elite, so it has to run late. In this kind of culture, Indigo came as an airline which
gave the tag line of on time is wonderful thing and people lapped its most of the time when I
meet people from other countries they are astonished to see track record of indigo and they ask
me how Indigo is doing its most of the time it is kind of difficult for me to explain as there is not
one thing which indigo does, it is chain of things which helps indigo to keep its track record. Now
other airlines are also trying to catch-up and Regulator publishes On time record of all airlines
on monthly basis.
These difficulties come because people start making preconceived notions about people of
particular culture and then it sticks with them and kind of difficult to remove that impression from
people mind.