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NEW TRENDS IN HUMAN RESOURCE

INTRODUCTION

The field of Human Resource Management is developing very fast & every department of humanactivity is realizing its importance in the smooth functioning of the organization. Innovative

techniques are developed to improve the work culture, so that the employees are motivated to

give in their best to the organization. There is tough competition everywhere & to survive with

grace, one will have to accept the changes in this modern world and adopt the latest human

resources practices. Those who refuse to change will be left behind & will have to accept defeat.

So it is imperative to implement the latest human resource practices in the organization. Indian

organizations are also witnessing a change in systems, management cultures and philosophy due

to the global alignment of Indian organizations. There is a need for multi skill development. Role

of HRM is becoming all the more important.

HR TRENDS IN POST-LIBERALIZATION PHASE

Corporate India has come a long way since Independence. Today Indian companies have

spread themselves across the globe and are moving to a borderless world. Similarly post

liberalization and globalization a large population of Indians have become a part of the

multinational and foreign units. In short, the Indian workforce and the industrial climate are bothcontinuously changing. Thus at this juncture it is very vital to understand the changing trends of

the most valuable asset of an organizationIts people. There is constant need to develop

capabilities, leverage them to ensure the growth and success of an organization and at the same

time add value to an organization.The key players who have served as facilitators are the Human

Resource professionals who have moved beyond their administrative role to emerge as a

strategic business partner. Their role has become very critical in providing radical solutions to

organization success. Today they no longer work in independent silos, but have aligned

themselves with the strategic goals. With the changing market trends HR today is faced with

several challenges and people management issues in this talentshort market. Human resource

professionals need to think differently today and further experiment varied processes &

methodologies benefiting the human capital and the organization at large.

EMERGING HR TREND IN INDIA

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A look at the trends in managing people in this dynamic industry reflects that Attracting,

Managing, Nurturing talent and Retaining people has emerged to be the single most critical issue

in lieu of the enormous opportunities spun off by the market. The new avatar of talent is the

knowledge professional who is innovative, business savvy, quick on the uptake, has an

instinctive ability to network, and possessing unbridled ambition. They are propelled by an urge

to experiment, scan new avenues that can spur their creativity. The knowledge professional will

gravitate to an organization that is flexible, has strong values, a robust performance ethic and

provides challenging work on latest technology. This has led to companies proactively taking

measures on three fronts.

First, companies create an organizational ambience where talent can bloom. Second, they put in place systems that help unleash their potential Third, they build a reward and recognition mechanism that provides value for

people.

Some of the recent trends that are being observed are as follows:

Moonlighting by Employees

This is a situation, which arises among employees on account of dissatisfaction from

present wage & salary structure. They feel that employer enjoys the increased profit and that they

are being exploited by the employer. Consequently they agitate for hike in wages or take up

another part-time job or business simultaneously with that of the original job. This is also known

as Double Jobbing.

Moonlighting by employees affects almost all the functions of Human Resource Management.

The effects of Moonlighting would be mostly negative & it poses challenges to the personnel

manager. Presently very limited number of employees does moonlighting, but the number of

employees will go on increasing due to change in employee values & expectations. Management

will have to take all possible care in selection process about the possibility of moonlighting by

the prospective candidates.

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industry. The industry with limited budget can utilize the expert advice & service of most

competent human resources.

Dual Career Groups

There has been a tremendous increase in the number of female employees in all types of

organizations due to: -

Increased career orientation among women in recent years.

Creation of variety of jobs.

higher level commitment

Better performance.

Less demanding & agitate oriented.

Economic Freedom.

Better Social Status.

Aspirations for quality of work life.

Due to dual career groups, both wife & husband will be loaded with grievances &

problems as both of them share their problems, both at work and off the job. In view of

overloading of the problems to both the members in dual career groups, they spend heir time and

energy in solving the problems or in getting the grievances redressed for both the parties. So,

there will be possibility of less commitment to the work in the organization by both the parties.

Due to this new trend in HR, in a nutshell, the HR manager should treat people as

resources, reward them equitably, and integrate their aspirations with corporate goals through

suitable HR policies.

Flexi-time & Flexi-work

The number of hours in a day, number of days in a week and work schedule when the

worker has to perform is normally stated in the Job Description. The concept ofFlexi-time has

been introduced in order to suit the convenience of the workers without affecting the

organizational functioning. Flexi-time is a program that allows flexible entry and leaving times

for employees. Flexi-time increases productivity, decline in absenteeism, and reduction in

employee turnover & increase in morale. Flexi-work - It is a program that allows flexibility in

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handling the type of work in various departments of the organizations in systematic way by the

employee during his tenure of employment in an organization. For example, a candidate may be

selected as a clerk in the Personnel Department and after two years he may be allowed to take up

work in any other department of the organization.

Training & Development

Organizations spend a lot of time and resources in training, developing and educating

their employees in tune with the job awareness and organizations' requirements. This is mostly

due to the absence of linkage between the industry and universities. Organizations in future will

establish their own educational institutes. These institutes will frame their course curriculum to

suit the requirements of various jobs in the organization as a whole. These institutes will go on

changing the course curriculum depending upon the changes in technology, work methods,

production process and activities and so on. The intake of these institutes depends on exclusive

requirements of organization. After the completion of the course, the candidate will be awarded a

diploma and absorbed by the organization. This management arrangement will automatically

take care of the problem of unemployment and underemployment. This arrangement will also

minimize the duration of time to be spent by the candidate in his educational process.

Management Participation in Employees' Organizations

With the formation and recognition of employees' organizations, the management cannotmake unilateral decisions those affect employee relationship directly or indirectly. Decisions

relating to policies on employment, training, transfer, promotion, adoption of latest technology

etc. are no longer determined by unilateral action of management and must now be discussed

with the representatives of employees' organizations. Decisions on the policies and

administration may still rest with management, but they are frequently subject to question and

criticism by union representatives under a formal grievance procedure. This technique enables

the two parties to exchange ideas, opinions, information and knowledge to understand each

other's viewpoint, with an open mind and thereby avoid all misunderstandings. Thus, the

management representatives may provide effective plans, suggestions, advice organization and

directions for sound management and functioning of federations and unions for the common

good of both the parties.

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Balanced Scorecard

A strategic planning and management system used to align business activities to the

vision statement of an organization. More cynically, and in some cases realistically, a Balanced

Scorecard attempts to translate the sometimes vague, pious hopes of a company's vision/mission

statement into the practicalities of managing the business better at every level.

A Balanced Scorecard approach is to take a holistic view of an organization and co-ordinate

MDIs so that efficiencies are experienced by all departments and in a joined-up fashion.

To embark on the Balanced Scorecard path an organization first must know (and understand) the

following:

The company's mission statement

The company's strategic plan/vision

Then

The financial status of the organization How the organization is currently structured and operating The level of expertise of their employees Customer satisfaction level

The following table indicates what areas may be looked at for improvement (the areas are not

exhaustive and are often company-specific):

Balanced scorecard - factors examples

Department Areas

Finance Return On Investment

Cash Flow

Return on Capital Employed

Financial Results (Quarterly/Yearly)

Internal Business Processes Number of activities per function

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Duplicate activities across functions

Process alignment (is the right process in the right

department?)

Process bottlenecksProcess automation

Learning & Growth Is there the correct level of expertise for the job?

Employee turnover

Job satisfaction

Training/Learning opportunities

Customer Delivery performance to customer

Quality performance for customer

Customer satisfaction rate

Customer percentage of market

Customer retention rate

Once an organization has analysed the specific and quantifiable results of the above, they should

be ready to utilise the Balanced Scorecard approach to improve the areas where they are

deficient.

The metrics set up also must be SMART (commonly, Specific, Measurable, Achievable,

Realistic and Timely) - you cannot improve on what you can't measure! Metrics must also be

aligned with the company's strategic plan.

A Balanced Scorecard approach generally has four perspectives:

1. Financial2. Internal business processes3. Learning & Growth (human focus, or learning and development)4. Customer

http://www.businessballs.com/acronyms.htm#smart%20smarter%20acronyms%20business%20acronyms%20dictionaryhttp://www.businessballs.com/acronyms.htm#smart%20smarter%20acronyms%20business%20acronyms%20dictionary

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Each of the four perspectives is inter-dependent - improvement in just one area is not necessarily

a recipe for success in the other areas.

Human Resource Information Systems

Human Resource Information Systems are like any other information system used to

gather, store, retrieve, analyze, store data related to human resources of an organization. HRIS

helps managers take HR decisions more objectively and helping develop a fair human resource

management system in an organization. This system also helps in evaluating whether HR

strategy and organizational strategy are in sync with each other. Normally HRIS works on a

computerized system with hardware and customized software as per the needs of the information

system required by the organization.

HRIS helps organizations keeping track ofemployee information, streamlining and

managing recruitment and selection, managing performance appraisals, keeping skills

inventory of human resources, payroll management etc. What would comprise in a HRIS of a

company would depend upon the nature of the companies and its human resource requirements.

Companies like Oracle, SAP provide pre-package software solutions for the HRIS.

There are concerns regarding usage of human resource information systems in the companies.

Biggest concern in privacy and security of the data, of the employees. HRIS can give easy

access to all employees information if not properly secured. As many managers do not

understand the IT security related issues, this could be a big threat in implementation of HRIS in

a company. Companies shall thoroughly evaluate security and privacy concerns while the time of

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implementation. Many companies are realizing the importance of having an effective HRIS and

this has helped in continuous growth in implementation of HRIS in many big size companies.

Slowly, even mid size companies are also deploying HR Systems.

HR Managers should concentrate on the following areas to ensure success: -

Use workforce skills and abilities in order to exploit environmental opportunities andneutralize threats.

Employ innovative reward plans that recognize employee contributions and grantenhancements.

Indulge in continuous quality improvement through TQM and HR contributions liketraining, development, counseling, etc.

Utilize people with distinctive capabilities to create unsurpassed competence in an area. Decentralize operations and rely on self-managed teams to deliver goods in difficult times

e.g. Motorola is famous for short product development cycles. It has quickly

commercialized ideas from its research labs.

Evans and Doz have described the managerial challenge in complex international

organizations in terms of balancing opposing dualities (Hoecklin, 1996). They believe that the

pace of change and the new complexity of globally operating companies create the need for

harmonizing seemingly opposing forces, such as:

Thinking global Acting local

Decentralization Centralization

Planned Opportunistic

Differentiation Integration

Change Continuity

Top-down Bottom-up

Delegation Control

Competition Partnership

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They urge that such forces should be considered not as binary, either/or decisions, but rather as

complementary forces that need to be balanced. The analogy of the human personality is a useful

one. Instead of trying to maximize

CONCLUSION

Human resource management is a process of bringing people and organizations together

so that the goals of each other are met. The role of HR manager is shifting from that of a

protector and screener to the role of a planner and change agent. Over the years, highly skilled

and knowledge based jobs are increasing while low skilled jobs are decreasing.