The strategic role of human resources in the global business environment

Human Resource Department

Final Project - HR

The essay is based on human resources department how significant it can be to any organization. To understand the topic well the essay intends to give a quick overview of the global business environment and then the strategic role played by human resource, here the essay will introduce the topic by first offering a short history of human resource and some of the key function of the department. To explain the strategic role of the HR department a case of crisis management comes very much in handy to explain this.

The third section of this essay spells out other functions of the department after which it introduces the concept of human resource development that encompasses the ideology learning organization as toll through which an organization can use to gain competitive advantage over its' rival.

Introduction

After a thorough study of human resource, this paper will relate to what was taught in class and experience and explore through research how to create a new HR department that's capable of carrying out business successfully to the very competitive 21st century. Through the function of human resource development bestowed on the department the essay will elaborate on how this can be exploited by the department to give a business competitive advantage over others.

The global business environment

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), global business environment exits when the business environment, which includes the economic, technological, social, cultural, political, tax, regulatory and legal environment of a particular country has their organizational decision making process being influenced by factors that are external to their own environment or country, these factors influence decision making on particular subjects like resource capabilities and use.

Thus any successful business organization operating in the global business environment can only record success in their business activity if they easily adapt to these external factors that influence the way they do business. And a firm that can adjust and design its' internal organizational structure in order to tap at the potential business opportunities being offered by the external environment, and while doing so it is also able to mitigate threats coming from the same environment, such a firm will ultimately record success in their venture.

The most notable determinants of global business environment include the political and economical environment. The political environment plays a very pivot role in determining how organizations in the business environment are going to operate this is through the various laws, policies and regulation that they implement to govern the way businesses are to be conducted. The economic environment on the other hand will determine how conducive the business climate is and if favorable it will be able to attract a lot of other investment into the country.

The technological environment is also another important determinant to the business environment as it will consists of factors that are relating to machines and materials that are used in production of goods and services. This would influence the decision making process in terms of how consumer and the business organization adopt to these new technological advancement.

Referring to a recent survey conducted by synovate international on top business executives whom they were asked to name the trends that they largely consider will affect the global business environment in the years ahead they cited top three as the increasing number of global consumers in developing countries, the ease of developing knowledge and the easy accessibility of information and change in business activities within and between different counties. Other trends that will affect the global business environment include; change in structure or adaptation of new corporate organization models, advanced technological innovations that has changed the way business interact and communicate with surrounding society as a whole. On the question of what factors largely propel the changes being witnessed in the global business environment they pointed out that innovation and creativity in consumer service, product and business models as the main driving force followed by developing knowledge, easy accessibility of getting information and the increase in activism and awareness by the consumers themselves. The other important factor to note about this research carried out is that all the business executives were in agreement that global business environment has become very competitive more than it was five years ago.

The global business environment according to Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright (2009, 235-289), in their book is largely dependent upon the human resources, which are the driving force in charge of global business environment. The research conducted in this essay will focus on the strategic role played by the human resources on the global business environment.

Key roles and functions of the human resource department

The most notable function and key role about human resource is the selection and recruitment of employees to work within an organization. The hiring process is meant to give a company qualified individuals who can help it attain success both in its' short-term and medium-term goals, it is also meant to provide a company with the best and most qualified personnel from the competitive labor market and by doing so the company seeks to gain competitive advantage over others. The recruitment process can either be internal or external process depending on the organization requirement in terms of education and experience qualifications (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2009, 235-289),.

The department has also the mandate of workforce retention; many newspapers or jobs blog sites have always indicated that a company that has a high turnover of employees is either not financially sound or the management in particular the HR department is poor managed. Therefore viable HR department will take every step necessary to ensure that employees are comfortable in the work place and they are favored by every aspect of the organization, hence they will feel encouraged to continue working for the company.

The department is also charged with responsibility of observing labor laws that have been set by the government to protect the employees against exploitation. It also designs the benefit and compensation scheme for workers with regards to various aspects like education qualification, experience and even the labor laws that state what the minimum salaries for workers to be paid are. Business organizations that operate in a multi-cultural set up require that their HR department recruit staff in a manner that will expose it also as a multicultural organization that accommodates each and every person in the society, which is also good for their public image and relations.

There are other various functions that HR department carry out within an organization but there are those that have the greatest potential of carrying the business succefully into the 21st century and as such will be spelt out in the next section Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2009, 235-289),.

Human resource development

Human resource development a relatively young concept as it came after the concept of Human resource was formally recognized and applied in various companies' structure. Human resource development is one of the functions of the human resource department whose principal focus is to recruit and manage employees, manage their performance, motivate them, address safety concerns and train and develop these employees, which is also known as learning management, with the main aim of ensuring smooth progress of at work.

An organization needs to have a forecast on their present and future requirement in terms of skills and technical abilities and the level of competence it requires from its workforce to help it attain its long-term goals and objectives, this would only be achieved by an organization that has a human resource development program that would educate and train the employees for the upgrade of their skills and competence level.

Aims and objectives of human resource development in an organization

One of the principal objectives of human resource development is to develop the employee's skills and competence level, through education and training with the main aim of making them adapt to technological changes and advancements. Also making the current workforce relevant to the organization even in the future when the organization's goals and objective are likely to change or become broad in perspective.

Human resource development aims at enhancing the employee's own career growth and goal by the additional training and education he or she will get, this at the end tends to favor the employee, as his or her resume would be have a competitive advantage over those of employees who haven't received any additional training.

Human resource development has the long-term objective and aim of increasing the value of the employees to their present and future employer, as the skills and competence level they now have would be of significance to their human resource requirements (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright 2009, 235-289).

Gaining competitive advantage through adoption of learning organizations

As mentioned above human resource development involves sharpening of employees' skills through additional training and education, hence the term learning organization. The concept of learning organization has received increased attention and focus mostly from human resource managers and consultants, and this is proved correct by the number of literature that have being written dedicated to this topic (Swanson, 2001, 299-312).

According to Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright (2009, 235-289), factors that have led to the increased attention and focus on this concept are the rapid growing competition in the global business environment. Human Resource Managers have begun to realize that; how they manage their human resources may by way of achieving a sustainable competitive advantage.

An approach for attaining an effective human resource that offers competitive advantage is through building a learning organization. In his book the HRD and its underlying theory, Swanson, (2001, 299-312), elaborates on the characteristics of learning organizations to include clear vision, shared mental models, teamwork and an experimenting culture as key features that can be found in such organizations.

Implied in this piece of literature is that learning organizations in the UK are highly effective and that they give organizations competitive advantage, because it has the capability of creating new Knowledge, is good at experimentation and therefore innovative and can transfer to solve problems faster. However there is very few or no empirical work other than a few in-depth case studies that attempt to link organizational learning to implied performance outcomes. Learning organizations can be viewed as firms that purposefully adopt structures and strategies to encourage learning.

This approach requires identification of what these mechanism are that organizations use to facilitate learning. That is, what organizational structures support learning? What kind of management practice and procedures are linked to being a learning organization? These practices structures and procedures can then define the learning capability of an organization that translates to competitive advantage for them Swanson, (2001, 299-312).

Conclusion

After an overview of the global business environment it apparent that competition is the order of the day in doing business and each organization should exploit any avenue possible to gain competitive advantage over other rivals. Apart from the other avenues possible this essay has highlighted the human resource department and how it has the capability of carrying a business organization successfully into the very competitive 21st century.

The essay has touched on various issues to do with the human resource department from there key function of recruiting and selecting the right workforce for a business organization to their strategic role in case of crisis management and lastly the human resource development function bestowed on the department.

It is with out doubt that the human resource department plays a very crucial role to the success of a business and in general the global business environment. It can also be used to give the business organization a competitive advantage and as they essay has shown by incorporating learning into the organizational structure this can be achieved, as the organization can boost of highly qualified and competent persons who can propel it to financial success in this 21st century.