Challenges and Strategies in Human Resource Management

This essay discusses the challenges faced by human resource managers in the current business scenario, including maintaining motivation, managing diversity, resistance to change, employee attrition, and recruitment. Strategies to overcome these challenges include training and development, effective feedback mechanisms, diversity management, effective recruitment and selection, and payroll management.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human resource management
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Introduction
The current business scenario is one of most challenging areas for the human
resource managers. This is due to the reason that there are number of complexities and
difficulties being faced by the human resource managers in the current time. In the
contemporary business organizations, there are number of departments with whom
coordination is important along with managing the diversity in the workforce (Brewster
2017). Thus, the challenges faced by the human resource managers in the current time
are more complex compared to the challenges get emerged a decade ago.
This essay will discuss about the major challenges that are being faced by the
human resource managers in the current business scenario. In addition, this essay will
also discuss about a few strategies that can help the human resource managers in
overcoming the identified challenges.
Identification of the challenges
Maintaining the level of motivation
One of the major challenges that is being faced by the human resource
managers in the current time is the enhancing the level of motivation of the employees.
The core objective of initiating human resource management is to have motivated and
engaged employees in place. However, in the current time employees are having
number of different expectations and requirements to be fulfilled and their business
approach is also changing frequently. Thus it is a challenge for the human resource
managers to effectively meet the diverse requirements of the employees in order to
motivate those (Shahzadi et al. 2014). It will also be difficult to maintain different
approaches of human resource management in accordance to the expectations of the
employees. On the other hand, if the diverse requirements and expectations cannot get
met by the human resource managers then it will cause demoralization for the
employees and will affect the organizational performance.

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Managing the workplace diversity
Globalization is the current trend in the modern day business environment. Thus
initiation of the globalization is causing having diverse workforce in place with having
employees from different social and cultural groups. However, in this case the major
challenge for the human resource managers is determining the diverse requirements
and approach of the employees from different social and cultural groups. Moreover, the
cultural differences between the employees from different set of cultural and social
groups are also challenging to be maintained by the human resource managers
(Podsiadlowski et al. 2013). This is mainly due to the reason that, in any given
organizations, human resource management is being followed in a singular approach.
Thus, with having diverse workforce in place, singular approach of the human resource
management may not get accepted by the employees.
Resistance to change
The current business and market scenario is rapidly changing and it is becoming
difficult for the contemporary business organizations to cope up with the frequent
change in the business scenario. In this case, the majority of the business organizations
initiates change management process in order to change their existing process and
practices according to the current market demand. However, initiation of the change
management also poses challenges and difficulties for the human resource managers
(Hon, Bloom and Crant 2014). This is due to the reason that approach of the human
resource management is being changed in accordance to the business and market
requirements. There are number of instances where employees tend to resist the
change in their workplace due to different set of interests of them. Hence, it can also be
considered as one of the major challenges for the human resource managers to
manage the resistance from the side of the employees. It is also to be noted that the
reasons for the employee resistances are diverse and varied in nature and it is also a
challenging task for the human resource managers to manage and fulfill the varied
causes for the employee resistances.

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Employee attrition rate
Another major challenge for the human resource managers in the current time is
maintaining the retention rate of the employees in the organization. Maintaining the
retention rate of the employees in the current time is difficult and challenging for the
human resource managers due to the reason that in the current time, employees are
having different reasons for leaving their current organizations and it is difficult for the
human resource managers to determine and manage all these requirements (Kumar
and Pansari 2015). In addition, there are number of issues for the employees that
cannot be controlled by the human resource managers and thus they are having less
control over the attrition of the employees. However, on the other hand, human
resource managers should also ensure that the attrition rate of the employees should be
kept low in order to prevent the added cost in recruiting and selecting new employees.
Recruitment and selection
Recruitment and selection are the basic and foundation of an effective human
resource management policy. However, in the current time, the major challenge that the
human resource managers face in recruiting and selecting new employees is identifying
the right candidates with right set of the qualification, expertise and skills (Collings
2014). In the current time, this is more challenging for the human resource managers
due to the reason that job profiles and job responsibilities are rapidly changing. It is
becoming more difficult for the human resource managers to change their recruitment
approach according to the change in the job profiles and job expectations.
Strategies to overcome the identified challenges
There are number of challenges being identified for the human resource
managers in the above sections and thus it is important to discuss some effective
strategies that can help the human resource managers to overcome the identified
challenges. The following sections will discuss and evaluate about a few effective
strategies.

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Initiation of training and development program
Providence of training and development program will have multiple benefits both
for the employees as well as for the human resource managers. This is due to the
reason that initiation of the training facilities for the employees will enable the
employees to have the clear understanding about the organizational vision and mission
statement (Jehanzeb and Bashir 2013). Thus, they will have their approach in
accordance to that and will also help the human resource managers to have employees
with similar approach in place. On the other hand, initiation of the training and
development program for the employee will also help to enhance the skill sets of the
employees and this will further motivate them in their workplace.
Effective feedback mechanism
It is also being recommended that human resource managers should initiate the
process of effective feedback mechanism in the organizations such as 360 degree
feedback process (Karkoulian, Assaker and Hallak 2016). This will help them to identify
the requirements and issues of the employees and the reasons behind the resistance
for any organizational change. Initiation of the effective feedback mechanism will further
help the human resource managers to implement the change management process in
accordance to the need and requirement of the employees. Thus, the probability of
emergence of resistance from the side of the employees will get reduced. Gaining the
feedback from the side of the employees will also enable the human resource managers
to identify the potential reasons for employee attrition in the organization.
Diversity management
It is also being recommended that diversity management should be initiated by
the human resource managers in order to overcome the issue of different cultural
groups in the workplace. Initiation of the diversity management will help the human
resource managers to create positive and favorable relationships between the
employees from different social and cultural groups (Cole and Salimath 2013). Thus, it
will have multiple benefits for the human resource managers due to the reason that the
more effective and favorable will be the relationships between the employees from

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different social and cultural groups, the more will be the organizational performance and
effectiveness. This will also ensure that issues and grievances from the side of the
employees will get reduced.
Effective process of recruitment and selection
It is also being recommended that the approach of recruitment and selection
should be made more effective by involving third party expertise in the process.
Involvement of the third party recruitment consultants will help to enhance the
effectiveness of the entire process of recruitment and selection. They will be able to
drive the process more effectively. It is also recommended that more mediums should
be used and involved in the recruitment process in order to have the access to more
number of potential leads.
Payroll management system
The last recommended step will be to have effective payroll management system
in the organization. This is recommended due to the reason that if the employees are
being given proper financial benefits and in right time, then they will be more motivated
and engaged in their workplace and will unlikely to leave their current workplace.
Conclusion
Thus, it is concluded that in the current time, there are number of challenges
being faced by the human resource managers in managing the employees and the
challenges and difficulties are increasing with time. This essay discussed about number
of challenges that are having higher probability to get emerged. In accordance to these
challenges, there are number of recommended steps also being discussed in this
essay.

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