Human resources management concepts and practices

Human Resources: Eastman Kodak

In order to understand why the human resource function of a company is so important, it is necessary to understand the fact that many companies have, in recent years, been spending less time on human resource management and more time on finding more ways to make a profit. Because of this, there have been changes that have been made to the human resource function. One of the most significant changes that is taking place in the world today is outsourcing. This involves sending many of the company's jobs to other countries where the labor is less expensive and the work can get done for a lower cost. One company that has done this, and thereby changed the way that their human resource department works, is Eastman Kodak. This company has been around for some time, but the changes that they have made when it comes to outsourcing have been relatively recent. Human resource management is still difficult to fully understand, however, because there are many nuances to it, and also because people are very different from one another and react in many different ways to changing ideas and plans within a company.

A certain amount of strategic decision making revolves around human resources, but people are far more complex than some descriptions would suggest. After all, it is people who own the businesses, manage the businesses, and make the businesses work. Compensation is perhaps the dominant reason that employees are willing to sacrifice nearly a third of their productive years for the benefit of others. Compensation also has a number of meanings. Salary, of course, is important, but other forms of compensation come by way of fringe benefits like paid vacations, paid sick days, and other forms. Employees generally come to work regularly and put forth such an effort for more than just their income. They also wish to satisfy deeper needs that they have regarding their achievement, status, recognition, self-determination, and security. Employment also buys employees into programs like Social Security, unemployment compensation, and workers compensation insurance. It is not uncommon to hear the compensation one receives called a 'pay package,' but at any name the bottom line idea is to attract good employees.

For the Eastman Kodak company, there is a definite trend toward the strategic rather than the traditional roles for human resources, and therefore for the employees within the company itself. Eastman Kodak used to do everything on American soil, but they are now outsourcing many more of their development, design, and manufacturing areas to offshore companies. There global human resource management strategy has therefore been expanded and is more interested now in making sure that the jobs that can be sent overseas for less money are moved away from the United States. This helps the company's bottom line, but it is not necessarily a good strategy when it comes to human resources, simply because of the morale problems that it can cause within the United States location of the company. In other words, many of the workers at Eastman Kodak no longer feel as safe as they once did in their jobs because they know that many of the jobs are being sent elsewhere. This leaves them wondering if their particular job might be next, and they too will be left looking for work. While it is understandable that Eastman Kodak must do what is necessary for its continued economic success, there are problems with sending jobs overseas, and the largest problem comes back to the human resource department, since that department is supposed to work with the employees and be somewhat of an advocate both for them and for the company. It is a delicate balancing act to keep everyone satisfied, and therefore something that Eastman Kodak must work on if it wants to keep good, quality employees within the United States.