Changing Role of HR Management

Changing Role of HR Management

The world of business today has a dramatically different face than as little as 50 years ago. Technology and ethics have changed along with trends such as globalization, increased diversity and e-business. Today, business is about far more than a bottom line and surviving financially; it is much more complex. Indeed, surviving financially has become dependent on many other aspects, including the public perception of the company, its ethics, and its labor environment. How these elements work together to create sound business practice has become the changing face of Human Resource (HR) management.

According to Grantham and Hook (p. 1), the role of Human Resources have shifted from a passive paradigm of compensation, benefits and compliance to one of proactive partner in integrating leadership, operating strategies, and corporate objectives of the company. What has become known as "Best Practices," according to the authors, is now the primary pursuit of HR managers.

In agreement with this, Schein (2008) formulates three basic forces that have bought change and is continuing to do so in the role of the Human Resource manager. These include the impact of globalization, technological complexity, and cultural diversity (Schein, 2008, p. 7). The basic economic drive for companies today encourages globalization -- with an increasing number of companies looking beyond national boundaries for cheaper labor and scarce resources.

This is important in terms of ethics and how this relates to fair compensation as well as other factors. Compensation for example plays an important role in how a company is perceived by the public (Management Matters, 2007, p. 31), which in turn relates to the company's income from that same public. It is important to keep wages competitive in order to ensure the retention of the workforce for as long as possible, while also attracting the best possible workforce from the labor pool.

Another important ethical consideration is the work environment; this should be as pleasant as possible, not only in terms of retaining good workers, but also in terms of the company's ethical image. If there is a public perception that the company notoriously pays minimum wages while expecting its workers to function in unhealthy or unsafe environments, business will suffer because the company is perceived to be unethical in its relationship with workers. This then relates back to the issue of globalization and cheap labor. While cheap labor may be good for the bottom line, careful consideration should be given to the issue of perception.

Schein (2008, p. 8) also mentions that technological complexity relates to HR management and its inherent ethical requirements. When expanding globally, economic considerations and general issues like wages and working conditions are not sufficient to make a success of a global business. HR managers also need to pay attention to the local laws and customs of a country to ensure that interpersonal relationships are not damaged inadvertently. Unintentionally offending a major business representative could for example prove fatal to a business. This of course relates closely to diversity.

The workplace is becoming increasingly diverse even as globalization has encouraged intercontinental partnerships. There are also an increasing number of opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds to work together towards a common company goal. This brings with it a unique set of opportunities and challenges (Kosch, 2007).

Kosch (2007, p.1) for example mentions the benefits of an international camping program in the United States, where students from across the globe came to American campsites to work as advisers, cooks, housekeepers, and others. The main benefit was the diversity of cultures that enabled a mutual learning process with the result of mutual respect. The main challenge was however the fact that these workers were far from their known and trusted support systems, and cultural integration could prove difficult at first. However, in an increasing amount of workplaces, cultural diversity has become the norm rather than the exception. In such environments, HR managers should therefore ensure that the various cultures integrate effectively to help the company achieve its goals as well as to promote optimal working conditions. Diversity is an integral part of working life. Prejudice is no longer ethically acceptable, although it still does occur in many workplaces. This could have a detrimental effect upon the perception of the company, as well as its internal functioning and achievement of goals.

The same is true for the management style exercised within a company. Although the ideal is to implement a management style that optimizes the creativity of staff, some still rely upon fear and intimidation to accomplish their goals, with little more than the bottom line in mind (Soupata, 2004, p. 15). Instead, Soupata (p. 15) suggests that it is far more effective to use devices such as sincere recognition to encourage employees to continue giving their best.