Current Workforce and the Nature of Work

This article discusses the challenges faced by HRM in the changing workforce and nature of work due to globalization and technological revolution. It explores the competencies required by organizations and HR professionals to support employees in the contemporary business environment. The article covers topics such as rapid technological advancement, diversity recruitment, emphasis on training, management of laws across jurisdictions, workforce diversity, and strategic organizations management. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for HR professionals to upgrade their skills to cope with global challenges and remain relevant.

Current workforce and the nature of work 1
Name
University
Course
Tutor
Date

Current workforce and the nature of work 2
Question: ‘Today’s workforce and the nature of work itself is changing, particularly in the climate of
globalization, and the new technological revolution. As a consequence issues facing HRM are expected
to change dramatically in the next decade'. Consider this statement and draw upon at least two topics
from the unit to discuss what some of these challenges are and the specific competencies required by
organisations and HR professionals to support employees in the contemporary business environment.
Introduction
Globalization refers to a new emerging concept or phenomenon. It is characterised by increased
international trading, financial market boundaries and commodity culture internationalization
promoted by the increased global telecommunication system (Sooet al. 2011, p 112). It goes
beyond the socio-economic, political and cultural barriers that countries build around
themselves. It integrates the economy, culture, technological, and legislation. It has given rise to
a new business environment that is new markets, foreign exchange trading and capital markets
connected globally through new tools of technology, internet links, easily accessible cellular
phones, social media network, and new actors. One of the positive impacts of globalization is
widespread of knowledge and information through the increased interaction of people from
different backgrounds. In the globalized world, knowledge has assumed a powerful role in
production led by increased innovations in technology. The paper focuses on rapid technological
advancement and strategic management is the appointed topics for the analysis.
Rapid Technological advancement

Current workforce and the nature of work 3
Technology is rapidly changing everything and impacting every part of business today. The
human resource practices have adopted new practice processes(Francis et al, 2011 p 8). For
example, the human resource management has innovated their ways of recruitment and hiring of
new employees. There have been various hr capital challenges, geographical limitations, and
mobilization. The hr has used the technology to change their functions drastically. For example,
the human resource has changed how the employees and management team can access human
resource data. Technology has changed the way the business market operates, and through
globalization, the local market learned that they could not ignore the global market and
competitors. In the past decade, the industries have learned that they have to understand
emerging markets, technologies and different management approaches (Mamman et al., 2013 p
116).
With stiff competition from the global and local market, companies had to take up the need of
the customer and ensure satisfaction in their environment to enable customer retention.
Technology has led to different challenges for companies. Human resource team has to find
solutions to address this challenges for the sustainability and growth of companies (Solari, 2012
p32). The technology in an organization has made it easier to access, gather and communicate
information to others. The hr integrates technology to into their functions to ensure the smooth
running and operations of the company.
Hr department has innovated some technological tools to assist in the operation of their duties.
Technologies which are web-based plays a critical development role that enables HR to reduce
transactional activities and focus its efforts and resources to increase customer and strategic
services (Mura 2012, p121). Multinational organizations have to monitor and manage the global

Current workforce and the nature of work 4
workforce required to achieve the sustainable growth. The employees of an organization are the
most important component of HR department to sustain the results of the business.
The technology developed to integrate the functions of Hr, but now, the new technology focuses
beyond across the business, and to improve competitiveness. The HR current practices have gone
beyond the physical, cultural barriers and geographical barriers and helped the human resources
to move worldwide and to select and recruit the best talent to the right job in the market
(Armstrong et al, 2015 p152).Below are some of the changes caused by globalization to the HR
department due to technological advancement.
 Diversity Recruitment
Globalization has led to the company of all sizes to now interact with customers from different
cultural and social backgrounds (Soo et al. 2011, p 112). The trend is set to continue due to the
internationalization of financial markets and free trading grounds all over. The work
environment no longer hires people of the same background due to high rates of diversity from
investors to customers. Companies involved in diversity recruitment recognizes the value of
recruiting employees that customers can relate to and know what team of diverse people
contributing to the range of idea and influence within the organization. The HR department has
to adjust and consider hiring talents from all backgrounds to accommodate the different cultures.
 Emphasis on Training
Training has resulted to focusing requirements and improving professional competencies of
employees in an organization. The company might lose insight on needed skills, and HRM
comes in by offering training to meet the needs and professional competency of the employees.

Current workforce and the nature of work 5
The training assist gives the company a competitive edge and also up to date with the changes in
the market. Training helps develop the employee's skills required to deliver quality work. With
globalization, training helps the employees keep up with the constant change in the market.
 Management of laws across jurisdictions
Thebusinesses need to understand and apply the laws of different jurisdictions in operating
globally. Business operating in a different jurisdiction must apply. The HR has to make sure to
follow all the required policies to avoid lawsuits that can behave prevented. It is important to
understand these laws for the organization to abide by them and also allows free trading in the
market and enjoy financial well being and protect the business reputation.
 Professional development
Push for professional development in an organization is also another effect of HR management.
Professional development of all the employees to provide an opportunity to achieve their work-
related goals and improve when it comes to globalization and new technology they are up to
date. Providing resources such as scholarship is offered to the employee for self-development
and handle future tasks in the line of study. The organization focuses on providing a range of
skills and gaining required competencies from employees to develop their professional portfolio.
The globalization and information technologies have reduced the capacity for organization.
There is great capacity for the organization to adding value through core business and
outsourcing non-core activities to other organization. The impact has led to the networked global
economy where a single partnership is replaced with the partnership between multiple

Current workforce and the nature of work 6
companies. Here are some of the changes HR department going to experience and affect their
work.
 Workforce diversity
Effective leadership is critical to the management of any workforce. The work has already
transformed itself; technology increases productivity and also leads to the replacement of low
performances. Workforce diversity in companies is characterized by diversity from human
resources in the organisation. Right from ethnicity, culture, religion and race differences. HR
mangers in multinational organisations focus on creating a positive working environment for all
workers to ensure effective development. Modern trends has acknowledged and valued
workforce diversity as the employment world is headed towards companies having diverse
workforce. HR with no multicultural background has it difficult to manage different employees
and globalization is heading towards diverse work environment. HR should go through training
to be versatile and flexible changes. Researchers state that workforce diversity helps increase the
level of creativity among employees (Hunter & Katz 2012, p1994).
The expansion of the tendencies which connects with workforce diversity signals about the great
impact of this phenomenon on the development of organizations and their effective performance.
It is possible to speak about positive and negative effects of the process. In spite of the fact the
negative effects are less obvious, and they can rarely be observed while analyzing the
peculiarities of the organizational performance, it is possible to determine them with references
to unsuccessful work of the HR manager in the definite company (Quang 2010, p 82). Thus,
workforce diversity involves effective recruitment of professionals capable of managing diverse
human resources in the organization and creating positive work atmosphere.

Current workforce and the nature of work 7
With technology, employees have access to email and the internet raises concerns among the
employers. Mostly what are the ethical implications for surfing the web of work? Is the internet
restricted at per what websites one is allowed to view? These are some of the measurements HR
has to take to ensure employees do not stray into other websites and leaving work. Is olay to visit
other websites after work hours? The HR has to harness emerging technologies to make the
workplace and their duties/work more effective. The technology is also helpful to the employees
as they keep monitoring their working, for example checking emails and work website for
business growth. The monitoring of the internet is what keeps the employees from working as
otherwise they would be on a different website and doing other personal things. Hence the
internet in a workplace is restricted to certain sites.
Telecommution has gradually become more popular among employers and employees. Both the
employer and the employee would be able to reduce cost regarding space and transport cost
respectively. Shortly, most companies would go virtual. There would be a severe shortage of
labor making other companies become global and employing skilled workers from all over the
world and working over the internet (Bredin & Soderlund 2011, p 2019)The HR has to come up
with technology to keep track of all the employees and monitor their performances. Employees
will start working remotely and do not need to relocate.
Telecommuting leads to disconnect between employees as there are no physical interactions and
that is one of the main challenges HR needs to address. Managing telecommuter is challenging
as supervisors lose the ability to oversee their employees work and help develop them. Though
telecommuter is still not widely used, it will explore and HR needs to be innovative and come up
with ways to manage it when the time comes.

Current workforce and the nature of work 8
Strategic Organizations Management
The HR is expected to change drastically in the next few years. Due to constant changes in
technology and it is one of the few departments that require the human personnel. The HR plays
a special role in dealing with the expected changes and come up with strategic competencies to
deal with them. HR accommodates employees in their virtual work locations and come up with
strategies on how to manage corporate cultures.They have to act as companies performance
experts and monitor behavior without meeting the employees.
HRM in organizations face challenges in managing and implementing effective training and
development of employees, particularly in this climate of globalization and the new
technological revolution which begins with the importance of human capital in HR department
practices, Also their education and technical background training and communication and
language skills (Sullivan 2014, p8). Learning and motivation also play an important role in the
effective practices of human resource department.
In the ever innovative and globally changing world, HRM may find themselves obsolete in
future if they do not update their practices due to the changes in the environment. Some of the
skills that HR personnel need to develop to face the ever-changing business environment are
collaboration with line managers. They are responsible for all the managers within the
organization. With no strategy execution, the managers will plan with HR and no impact in the
marketplace. Hence, the HR needs to ensure that the impact felt in the marketplace. Multi-
Skilling Process is also necessary due to the high rate of change in this era of globalization
requires HR professionals to be multi-skilled. They must commit to core strategic issues and
facilitate change initiatives and internal consultant to the organization.

Current workforce and the nature of work 9
HR must exhibit expertise in their work. The HR department has to explore and design means
of conducting its functions in a better, faster and cheaper way to reduce the cost of operations
and at the same time maintain the quality of service. The HR manager has a duty of making good
use of what information technology offers and capitalize on it in the work setting and tool
(Mishra & Akman 2010 p216). Globalization has introduced new challenges to businesses, and
the HRM is required to come up with new capabilities and meet the competitive challenges and
to work to initiate change and focus on creating high performances from team members and
reduce cycle time for implementing new technology. It is commendable to upgrade the HR
professional skills to be able to cope with the global challenges and remain relevant and improve
the quality of service offered (Liang 2012, p340).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the effect of technology on HRM will be profound. The technology is changing
the world faster, smarter and better and it would change the face of human resource entirely and
reinvent the department. The HRM department would be expected to be an agent of change
within the organization. Previously, HR dealt with automated delivery of benefits, keeping the
record and general employee services. With the change in technology and globalization, the hr is
expected to start take up challenging human resource functions such knowledge and information
management, strategic redirection, managing different cultural changes and developing
employees over the internet and the telecommuters.

Current workforce and the nature of work 10
List of References
Armstrong, M. B., Landers, R. N., & Collmus, A. B. (2015). Gamifying recruitment, selection,
training, and performance management: Game-thinking in human resource management. In D.
Davis & H. Gangadharbatla (Eds.), Handbook of research trends in gamification (pp. 140 –165).
Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Bredin, K, & Soderlund, J 2011, 'The HR quadriad: a framework for the analysis of HRM in
project-based organizations', International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 22, 10, pp.
2202-2221, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 24 April 2018.
Francis C. Anyim, Cyril OselokaIkemefuna, Samuel E. Mbah, "Human Resource Management
Challenges Under a Globalised Economy", International Journal of Economics and Management
Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 4, 2011, pp. 01-11
Hunter, L, & Katz, H 2012, 'The impact of globalization on human resource management and
employment relations in the US automobile and banking industries', International Journal Of
Human Resource Management, 23, 10, pp. 1983-1998, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost,
viewed 21 April 2018.
Kim, Pan Suk. “Globalization of Human Resource Management: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
for the Public Sector”. Public Personnel Management. (2009), 28(2), pp. 227-243.

Current workforce and the nature of work 11
Liang, Y 2012, 'Global Imbalances and Financial Crisis: Financial Globalization as a Common
Cause', Journal Of Economic Issues (Taylor & Francis Ltd), 46, 2, pp. 353-362, Business Source
Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 24 April 2018.
Mamman, A, Baydoun, N, Sulaiman, M, & Ismail, I 2013, 'Globalization and its consequences:
Malaysian managerial perspectives and implications', Asia Pacific Business Review, vol. 19, no.
1, pp. 102-128. Available from: 10.1080/13602381.2011.606648. [24 April 2018].
Mishra, A, & Akman, I 2010, 'Information Technology in Human Resource Management: An
Empirical Assessment', Public Personnel Management, 39, 3, pp. 271-290, Business Source
Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 24 April 2018.
Mura, L 2012, 'performance of human resource management in an internationally operating
company', Serbian Journal Of Management, 7, 1, pp. 115-129, Business Source Premier,
EBSCOhost, viewed 24 April 2018.
Solari, L 2012, 'Globalization will make us all more different', people & strategy, 35, 2, pp. 30-
35, business source premier, ebscohost, viewed 24 April 2018.
SooSiew, C, Halim, H, &Keng-Howe, I 2010, 'the impact of globalisation on strategic human
resources management: the mediating role of ceo in hr', international journal of business studies,
18, 1, pp. 101-124, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 21 April 2018.
Sullivan, J 2014, 'A Walk through the HR Department of 2020', Workforce Solutions Review, 5,
1, pp. 7-9, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 24 April 2018.

Current workforce and the nature of work 12
Quang, T, van der Heijden, B, & Rowley, C 2010, 'Globalisation, competitiveness and human
resource management in a transitional economy: the case of vietnam', International Journal Of
Business Studies, 18, 1, pp. 75-100, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 21 April
2018.