University Leadership and Management Report: Trends, Issues, Practices

This report delves into the realm of leadership and management, offering a comprehensive analysis of current trends, challenges, and effective practices within human resource management. It begins by outlining the purpose of strategic HR planning, emphasizing the need for adequate human resources to meet organizational goals and adapt to external factors. The report then identifies and examines two key contemporary trends: workforce diversity and corporate downsizing, exploring their advantages, disadvantages, and strategic implementation. Furthermore, it addresses critical issues in HR, such as employee engagement and workplace flexibility, along with their root causes and potential solutions. The report also highlights essential HR practices like performance management and employee retention, discussing their benefits and drawbacks. The analysis underscores the importance of these practices in fostering strong employee-employer relationships, enhancing organizational performance, and ultimately achieving business sustainability. The document is contributed by a student to be published on the website Desklib, a platform which provides all the necessary AI based study tools for students.

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Leadership and Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
The report helps in analyzing as well as identification of the different current trends,
issues as well as practices in the contemporary human resource management. The entire
purpose of the strategic HR planning has to be identified as this will help in understanding the
different trends in the human resource management that is contemporary in nature.
The main aim and purpose of the report is to analyze the current issues in the human
resource management that are faced by the different business entities. The proper analysis has
to be done for the identification of the practices related to human resource management that
will help in enhancing the entire sustainability of the business. The proper identification of
the principles on the stakeholder relationship management on which the entire company will
be based on and the strategies has to be identified as well to achieve the different principles.
The structure of the report includes the identification of the current trends and the
purpose of the contemporary human resource management. The new practices of the human
resource management have to be identified as this will help in understanding the benefits of
the practices in the organizations as well. Lastly, the principles of the stakeholder relationship
management has to be identified along with the strategies relating to the stakeholder relation
has to be achieved with the performance indicators.
Answer 1.
The overall purpose of the strategic HR planning is as follows:
To ensure ample human resources in order to meet the operational plans as well as
strategic goals of the organization
To ensure that the right people has to be placed in the right place with the right skills
as this will help in making the right usage of the resources and time

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To properly cope with the changes that are related with the external factors related to
the environment
To proper analyze the manpower needs as this will helps in ensuring that the
employees are available to provide proper smooth function of the different
organizations.
Answer 2.
The two current trends in the contemporary human resource management are as follows:
Workforce Diversity
Corporate Downsizing
a) The details of the two trends are as follows:
The workforce diversity was homogenous in nature in the past years and the human
resource management was simpler in nature as well. However, the workforce in the today’s
scenario includes different age, gender, values, and characteristics of the personality within
the organization (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The proper diversity is linked with the
strategic direction of the entire organization. With the help of flourishing diversity, the
benefits that are potential in nature from better decision making and creativity can be
achieved in order to increase the competitiveness of the organization (Jackson, Schuler &
Jiang, 2014).
The human resource management must properly train individuals of different age
groups to properly manage as well as deal with one another and this will include respecting
the diversity of the different views that is offered. In this kind of situations, a participative
approach has to be followed that will help in making the work easier in the entire
organization.

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When the entire company attempts to reduce the number of employees in the
organization, it is meant that the company is attempting to create proper efficiency as well.
The main motive of downsizing is to properly reduce the number of different workers who
are employed in the company. The role of the human resource department is important and
essential in downsizing and it is the entire responsibility of the human resource department to
generate proper communication among the employees as this will help in minimizing the
effects of rumors.
This will help in ensuring that the individuals in the organization have to be properly
informed about the different factual data and the department of HR has an essential role in
downsizing the different discussions. This is known as corporate downsizing in the
organization.
b)
Two advantages of Workforce diversity
Increase in the creativity can be achieved in the workplace when the individuals of
different cultures meet together and perform the work effectively in nature and this
will be creative in nature as well (Kehoe & Wright, 2013).
Increase in the productivity can be achieved with the help of internationalization as
well as globalization as these are the gifts of the workplace and the diversity can be
achieved with proper implementation of such strategies.
Two disadvantages of Workforce diversity
Issues in communication can arise wherein the diversity in the workforce can directly
impact the productivity of the organization due to lack of cohesiveness. The different

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culture of employees who are working together in the organization has to be properly
mixed as this will help in improving the diversity of the organization.
Increase in competition is good in the workplace as this will help in increasing the
productivity of the entire organization. But the problem occurs when the employees of
the organization do not accept the other culture employees and they compete against
one another. These are the employees who do not work like a collaborative team and
this can have huge impact on the entire organization.
Two advantages of corporate downsizing
Affects bottom line as the downsizing helps in reducing the entire burden on the
financial aspects and this will indirectly impact the bottom line. For example- when
there is reduction in the level of manpower, it will directly or indirectly affect the
production and this may increase the efficiency as well.
Affects decision making wherein removing the employees can impact the process of
decision making in the organization. Proper decision making is essential as this will
help in generating proper productivity
Two disadvantages of corporate downsizing
Bringing transparency is required to make different results transparent in nature for
different employees and this will help in bringing proper transparency within group as
well as team. The production can be displayed by the organization in the form of pie
charts for the different achievements in that particular month (Zhong, Wayne &
Liden, 2016).
Proper strengthening of relations wherein the downsizing of employees in the
organization can take different measures to reduce the working hours. This can even
impact the workers who would leave the organization along with the employees who

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will be staying in the organization can help in strengthening the loyalty between
employees and employer.
c)
Two benefits to future of business entity by implementation of the trends are as follows:
The diversity in the workplace is essential in nature as this will help in increasing the
productivity as well as creativity in the workplace. Proper diversity is essential at the
workplace as this will help the company in gaining proper competitive advantage as
well (Marler & Fisher, 2013).
The downsizing of employees in the organization can help in increasing the morale
of the employees and this will be possible by the higher officials in the company who
will make the employees aware that they are not been terminated due to the quality of
the work that is delivered by them. The employees who are retained have to be
properly motivated with providing them effective support from the company.
d)
Steps in strategically implementing the trends in the business entity are as follows:
The workforce diversity is essential in the business as this will help in improving the
overall sustainability of the business. This will help in manifesting itself in building
proper reputation for the entire organization (Laudon & Laudon, 2016). This will
increase the profitability as well as increase the different opportunities of the workers
as well
The downsizing is essential at the workplace as this will help in being more
transparent to the different staffs and understand the different difficulties that are
faced by the employees as well (Aswathappa, 2013). The issues have to be properly

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solved by the employees wherein this will help in help in reducing the different
challenges that are faced by the employees and motivate the employees who are
potential in nature (Chen et al., 2014).
Answer 3)
Two issues in Human Resource Management
Focus on engagement of employees wherein the employees are hopping from one job
to another and they do not stick to one company and retire from the same organization
as well. This is a huge challenge for the HR managers and the issue can be solved by
providing the employees the best perks in the entire industry and keep them happy as
they are the important assets of the company (Knies et al., 2015).
Request for flexibility in workplace is essential at the workplace as the employees in
the workplace need proper flexibility that is required in addressing the different
concerns and this will help in increasing the different options for leave as well
(Mostafa, Gould‐Williams & Bottomley, 2015).
a)
Root causes of each issue
The root cause of the engagement of employees in the organization is relating to
that in the present scenario employees do not stick to one another and this will
have huge impact on the entire organization (Kramar, 2014). This will be a huge
trouble for the entire company along with the employees as there will be no
permanent employees in the organization ( Sparrow, Brewster & Chung, 2016)
The root cause of flexibility in the workplace is that the in the present scenario,
there are employees in the organization who prefer working in a peaceful

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environment and they do not like working in an environment where there is no
flexibility (Park & Shaw, 2013). However, the organizations are the ones which
do not provide such kind of environment and this is not accepted by the
employees as well (Paillé et al., 2014).
b)
Steps in resolving issues within business entity
The organization need to provide proper flexible environment to the individuals at
the workplace as this will help them in working peacefully in the workplace. The
employees need to keep a track about the issues that are faced by them and their
grievances can be solved with implementation of strategies (Anitha, 2014)
Proper motivation has to be provided to the employees in the workplace as this will
help in retaining the employees and making them engaged in the organization as well.
The proper engagement of employees is necessary and it is required to properly
implement activities such as providing incentives or providing those monetary
benefits to gain confidence among the employees (Peppard & Ward, 2016).
Answer 4)
Different human resource practices
Performance management
Retention of employees
a)
The performance management is essential at the workplace as this will help in
strengthening the employee and employer relationship. Proper feedback has to be

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provided to the employees as this will help in improving the entire performance and
this will help in achieving the objectives of the organization as well (Brewster et al.,
2016).
Proper retention of employees is essential as well as this will help in retaining the
employees who are the valuable assets of the company. Furthermore, benefits that is
focusing on the offering of retention to the employees is essential as well as this will
help in improving the job satisfaction techniques of the different employees (Shields
et al., 2015)
b)
Advantages of Performance management
It will strengthen the relation of employer and employees
Increase the revenue and profit of the company
Disadvantages of Performance management
It is lengthy and complex in nature
Different employees can suffer from low self esteem and efficacy
Advantages of retention of employees
Increase the morale of employees by providing incentives
It helps in creating positive working environment (Storey, 2014)
Disadvantages of retention of employees
Bad working atmosphere in the workplace
Groupism in the workplace
c)

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Benefits of the practices to business entity
The retention of employees in the organization can improve the revenue as well as
rate of profit in the entire organization. This will help in providing both monetary as
well as non monetary benefits to the employees as well. Furthermore, the employees
who do not work properly has to be terminated as this can create groupism in the
workplace
Proper performance management in the organization is essential in nature as this will
help the entire organization to increase their profit of the company. This will help in
strengthening the employer and employee relationship
d)
The performance management technique can be implemented in the business entity
by measuring the different performances of the employees as this will provide proper
understanding about the issues that are faced by them. The performance management in the
employees in the respective organization can be performed by motivating the employees and
providing them both monetary and non monetary incentives.
On the other hand, the employees can be retained in the organization by improving
the quality of the work that is performed at the workplace. The employees who are retained in
the organization have to be rewarded and make them understand their performance has been
up to the mark and this is the reason they were not terminated. This will help in improving
the morale of the employees in the organization.
Answer 5)
a)

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Two principles on stakeholder relationship management within which business entity is based
are as follows:
Proper communication is essential in nature as this will help in maintaining proper
relationship with the different employees as well as among the stakeholders of the
organization.
Proper planning is essential in the workplace as this will provide proper view on the
organizational commitments and this will help in performing the different tasks
systematically.
b)
Two stakeholder relationship strategies
Engagement strategy is essential in the nature in the business entity as this will help
in help in achieving the principles of the stakeholder relationship management. This
engagement strategy will help the stakeholders of the respective organization to
address the different issues and strengthen the relationship of the stakeholders with
the organization as well.
Mapping of stakeholders is essential as well in the organization as this will help in
understanding about the key stakeholders as well as the relationship of the
stakeholders with the company. Proper matrix has to be created that will be based on
the interest as well as influence matrix as this will enhance the level of interest and
influence on such basis.
c)
Two objectives that has to be achieved including the indicators of performance

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Increased customer satisfaction is one of the objectives that include satisfaction that
is required to be provided to the customers and this will help in understanding the
stakeholder relationship management.
Cost reduction is essential as well by improving the revenues as well as increase in
the amount of profit in the entire company. This will help in making the company
understand the stakeholder relationship management that is required for making the
performance better in nature.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that proper strategic human resource planning is
essential in nature as it helped in analyzing the different current trends in the contemporary
human resource management and the advantages as well as disadvantages has been described
as well. The proper practices related to strategic human resource management helped in
understanding the different benefits provided to the organization. Proper plan has been
prepared as well as this helped in analyzing the different issues that are faced by the business
entity as well. Proper principles related to the stakeholder relationship management has been
implemented as this helped in achieving the different objectives that has to be achieved by
the entire organization as well.