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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 organization’s big picture and be able to
influence key decisions and policies. In general, the focus of today’s HR
Manager is on strategic personnel retention and talents development. HR
professionals will be coaches, counselors, mentors, and succession planners to
help motivate organization’s 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.
This paper will highlight on how a HR manager can meet the challenges of
workplace diversity, how to motivate employees through gain-sharing and
executive information system through proper planning, organizing, leading and
controlling their human resources.
Workplace 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 Challenges 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 organisational 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 (Cox, 1993), which must be one of the important organisational
goals to be attained. More importantly, if the organisational 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. The challenge of workplace
diversity is also prevalent amongst Singapore’s Small and Medium Enterprises
(SMEs). With a population of only four million people and the nation’s 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 (Toh, 1993). In many ways, the effectiveness of workplace diversity
management is dependent on the skilful balancing act of the HR manager.
One of the main reasons for ineffective workplace diversity management is the
predisposition to pigeonhole employees, placing them in a different silo based
on their diversity profile (Thomas, 1992). In the real world, diversity cannot
be easily categorized and those organizations that respond to human complexity
by leveraging the talents of a broad workforce will be the most effective in
growing their businesses and their customer base.
The Management of Workplace Diversity
In order to effectively manage workplace diversity, Cox (1993) suggests that a
HR Manager needs to change from an ethnocentric view (“our way is the best way”)
to a culturally relative perspective (“let’s take the best of a variety of
ways”). This shift in philosophy has to be ingrained in the managerial framework
of the HR Manager in his/her planning, organizing, leading and controlling of
organisational resources.
As suggested by Thomas (1992) and Cox (1993), there are several best practices
that a HR manager can adopt in ensuring effective management of workplace
diversity in order to attain organisational goals. They are:
Planning a Mentoring Program
One of the best ways to handle workplace diversity issues is through initiating
a Diversity Mentoring Program. This could entail involving different
departmental managers in a mentoring program to coach and provide feedback to
employees who are different from them. In order for the program to run
successfully, it is wise to provide practical training for these managers or
seek help from consultants and experts in this field. Usually, such a program
will encourage organization’s members to air their opinions and learn how to
resolve conflicts due to their diversity. More importantly, the purpose of a
Diversity Mentoring Program seeks to encourage members to move beyond their own
cultural frame of reference to recognize and take full advantage of the
productivity potential inherent in a diverse population.
Organizing Talents Strategically-
Many companies are now realizing the advantages of a diverse workplace. As more
and more companies are going global in their market expansions either physically
or virtually (for example, E-commerce-related companies), there is a necessity
to employ diverse talents to understand the various niches of the market. For
example, when China was opening up its markets and exporting their products
globally in the late 1980s, the Chinese companies (such as China’s electronic
giants such as Haier) were seeking the marketing expertise of Singaporeans. This
is because Singapore’s marketing talents were able to understand the local China
markets relatively well (almost 75% of Singaporeans are of Chinese descent) and
as well as being attuned to the markets in the West due to Singapore’s open
economic policies and English language abilities. (Toh, R, 1993)
With this trend in place, a HR Manager must be able to organize the pool of
diverse talents strategically for the organization. He/She must consider how a
diverse workforce can enable the company to attain new markets and other
organisational goals in order to harness the full potential of workplace
diversity.
An organization that sees the existence of a diverse workforce as an
organisational asset rather than a liability would indirectly help the
organization to positively take in its stride some of the less positive aspects
of workforce diversity.
Leading the Talk
A HR Manager needs to advocate a diverse workforce by making diversity evident
at all organisational levels. Otherwise, some employees will quickly conclude
that there is no future for them in the company. As the HR Manager, it is
pertinent to show respect for diversity issues and promote clear and positive
responses to them. He/She must also show a high level of commitment and be able
to resolve issues of workplace diversity in an ethical and responsible manner.
Control and Measure Results
A HR Manager must conduct regular organisational assessments on issues like pay,
benefits, work environment, management and promotional opportunities to assess
the progress over the long term. There is also a need to develop appropriate
measuring tools to measure the impact of diversity initiatives at the
organization through organization-wide feedback surveys and other methods.
Without proper control and evaluation, some of these diversity initiatives may
just fizzle out, without resolving any real problems that may surface due to
workplace diversity.
Motivational Approaches
Workplace motivation can be defined as the influence that makes us do things to
achieve organisational goals: this is a result of our individual needs being
satisfied (or met) so that we are motivated to complete organisational tasks
effectively. As these needs vary from person to person, an organization must be
able to utilize different motivational tools to encourage their employees to put
in the required effort and increase productivity for the company.
Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival (Smith, 1994). In our
changing workplace and competitive market environments, motivated employees and
their contributions are the necessary currency for an organization’s survival
and success. Motivational factors in an organisational context include working
environment, job characteristics, and appropriate organisational reward system
and so on.
The development of an appropriate organisational reward system is probably one
of the strongest motivational factors. This can influence both job satisfaction
and employee motivation. The reward system affects job satisfaction by making
the employee more comfortable and contented as a result of the rewards received.
The reward system influences motivation primarily through the perceived value of
the rewards and their contingency on performance (Hickins, 1998).
To be effective, an organisational reward system should be based on sound
understanding of the motivation of people at work. In this paper, I will be
touching on the one of the more popular methods of reward systems, gain-sharing.
Gain-sharing
Gain-sharing programs generally refer to incentive plans that involve employees
in a common effort to improve organisational performance, and are based on the
concept that the resulting incremental economic gains are shared among employees
and the company.
In most cases, workers voluntarily participate in management to accept
responsibility for major reforms. This type of pay is based on factors directly
under a worker’s control (i.e., productivity or costs). Gains are measured and
distributions are made frequently through a predetermined formula. Because this
pay is only implemented when gains are achieved, gain-sharing plans do not
adversely affect company costs (Paulsen, 1991).
Managing Gain-sharing
In order for a gain-sharing program that meets the minimum requirements for
success to be in place, Paulsen (1991) and Boyett (1988) have suggested a few
pointers in the effective management of a gain-sharing program. They are as
follows:
• A HR manager must ensure that the people who will be participating in the plan
are influencing the performance measured by the gain-sharing formula in a
significant way by changes in their day-to-day behaviour. The main idea of the
gain sharing is to motivate members to increase productivity through their
behavioral changes and working attitudes. If the increase in the performance
measurement was due to external factors, then it would have defeated the purpose
of having a gain-sharing program.
• An effective manager must ensure that the gain-sharing targets are challenging
but legitimate and attainable. In addition, the targets should be specific and
challenging but reasonable and justifiable given the historical performance, the
business strategy and the competitive environment. If the gain-sharing
participants perceive the target as impossibility and are not motivated at all,
the whole program will be a disaster.
• A manager must provide useful feedback as guidance to the gain-sharing
participants concerning how they need to change their behavior(s) to realize
gain-sharing payouts the feedback should be frequent, objective and clearly
based on the members’ performance in relation to the gain-sharing target.
• A manager must have an effective mechanism in place to allow gain-sharing
participants to initiate changes in work procedures and methods and/or
requesting new or additional resources such as new technology to improve
performance and realize gains. Though a manager must have a tight control of
company’s resources, reasonable and justifiable requests for additional
resources and/or changes in work methods from gain-sharing participants should
be considered.
Competencies for a HR Manager
In order to effectively deal with all the changes, HR professionals must develop
competencies that will allow them to carry out their roles, competences like:
• Flexibility Team work Communication Decisiveness Leadership Strategic planning
Network building Client service orientation Organisational awareness Self
confidence Sharing of expertise Global and cultural understanding Multiple
language competencies
• In addition to increasing and sustaining technological skills relating to
communication developments, HR professionals will may also be required to
increase their numerical and data compilations skills. As increasing demands
merge to provide specific measurable results that prove effectiveness in their
area, HR professionals will be required that produce quantifiable results that
prove that their department is delivering specified outcomes based on the
objectives and goals set forth by the organization.
• In addition to delivering specific measurable developments, managers will also
need to know what contributed to the results declared. This may mean that HR
professionals will be required to be familiar with and administer employee
survey and provide for accurate data compilation and regression analysis.
• As a result of the increase in technology, innovation and globalization over
the last 20 years, HR professionals around the world are forced to be more
efficient, more effective and more competitive. They need to respond to the
demands of global competitiveness by becoming more familiar with language
skills, cultural awareness and diversity promotion. Additionally, HR
professionals must be committed to continuous learning, being familiar with
cutting edge communication. If HR managers won’t pay enough attention to their
changing role, serious consequences could result, including the deterioration or
even perhaps the elimination of the HR department.
Conclusion
The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of the changing organization.
Successful organizations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change
directions, and customer-centered. Within this environment, the HR professional
must learn how to manage effectively through planning, organizing, leading and
controlling the human resource and be knowledgeable of emerging trends in
training and employee development.
However, the research has shown that the HR function in international
organization has to meet a series of challenges. Three key conclusions about the
role of HR professionals working in the field of international recruitment
selection and assessment can be drawn:
The added value of the HR function in an international firm lies in its ability
to manage the delicate, balance between globally coordinated systems and
sensitivity to local needs, including cultural differences, in a way that align
with both business needs and senior management philosophy. There now appear to
be a distinction to be made between international HRM and global HRM. In this
transition, the old functional divides between international recruitment,
international management development and international reward management have
become increasingly weak.
Over the last 20 years, the workplace has changed in more ways than one could
have ever imagined, resulting from the increase in technology, innovation and
globalization. The next decade will bring even greater change, impacting all
facets of the workplace, including major changes for the HR department and HR
managers. In order to respond to the demands of globalization, HR managers will
require new skills and competencies relating to language and culture, technology
capabilities to facilitate overseas communication, methods to measure and
quantify effectiveness and evaluate strategies and return on investment.
Evidently, these new skills and competencies will result in an emerging new role
for HR managers, requiring them to be strategic business partner, supportive of
the overall corporate strategy.
The future role of HR professional will change from a less administrative role
to more of a strategic role. HR managers will continually be required to prove
their effectiveness and their existence. They will be expected to understand
international business practices and promote cultural diversity within the
organization. They will need to understand the core business of the organization
and become partners with line managers. They will need to prove that their
initiatives and programs are result-oriented, providing specific measurable
results in terms of business competitiveness that contribute positively to the
bottom-line of the organization. They will be required to stay current with
leading edge as more and more organization is faced with the demands of
globalization and strategic alliances with other organization around the world.
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