Importance of Human Resources in Supply Chain Management

Running head: SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Supply chain management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The current approach of the supply chain management is much different to that it was a
few years ago. This is mainly due to the rapid change in technology in this sector, which is
changing the existing approaches and patterns of doing job in supply chain and logistic sector.
One of the major changes being identified is the reduction of the importance of manual expertise
in this sector (Chen, Chen and Huang 2013). This is due to the reason that automation is talking
the place of manual labor and is well evident in the supply chain and logistic sector. Moreover,
there are different articles and reports being stated where the advantages to be gained from using
the technologies in the supply chain management are being analyzed along with the extent to
which these technologies are increasing the value in this sector.
However, on the other hand, an article by Pauka (2019) in Tandlnews is published on 19th
January 2019 stated about the importance of man power in this sector. This article is seen very
much unique in stating the changes in requirements from the human resources in the supply
chain sector and how this can be met (tandlnews.com.au 2019). In this essay, the article will be
critically analyzed in order to have the understanding of the views of the author. In addition, the
probable limitations will also be identified.
Critical analysis
The main objective of the chosen article is to aware regarding the utility and importance
of having human resources in the supply chain sector considering the recent onslaught of
technologies. It is stated in the article that demands for human resource is not getting reduced in
this sector rather the requirements regarding skills and expertise of the human resources are
changing. This is due to the reason that with the implementation of latest technologies in the

2SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
supply chain sector, job roles are getting changed and the human resources are being expected
with more diverse skills and expertise to deal with these technological advancements. Hence, as
the author, the demand for skilled man power will never get reduced rather it will get changed by
time (tandlnews.com.au 2019). On the other hand, this article has also states about the negligence
being shown by the current organizations in the supply chain and logistic sector regarding the
talent development. As the survey stated in this article, only 28 percent of the total respondents
stressed about the importance of talent development in the supply chain sector. Hence, the gap
between the approaches of the leading organizations and requirements is getting wider.
It can be concluded that the objectives of this article are very much distinctive as it took a
different approach towards stating the importance of human resources in the supply chain
management and the extent to which current industrial scenario is incompetent to adopt with the
change. Moreover, it can also be concluded from the chosen article that talent development is
one of the major elements that should be considered in this sector in the current time in order to
have the flow and supply of skilled human resources at any point of time (Lin 2014). In addition,
strength for this article identified is the discussion regarding the ways talent management
required in this sector. There are different strategies stated by the author, which can help the
current gap between the human resources and technologies evident in the supply chain and
logistic sector.
There are few weaknesses also being identified in this article with one being the lack of
discussion regarding the challenge being faced by human resources due to automation. In this
article, it is stated by the authors that initiation of technologies have only change the requirement
from the human resources and it is not substitute (Coustasse, Tomblin and Slack 2013).
However, in the practical situation, there are number of instances where automation is