Assessment 2: Human Resource Management in Contemporary Organizations

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ASSESSMENT 2: HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

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Introduction
In the early 90s, the role of HRMs remained with the line managers as a welfare officer and
personnel officer. With the development of HRM in years, the HRM team moved to develop
strategic connections. After the year 2000, the HR staff started dealing with the regulatory issues
and planning of the workforce. The following report includes the role and importance of HRM.
Its responsibilities and challenges faced by the issues are also discussed. In order to study for the
role of human resource personals in an organisation the reference of “AUSTAR”, a
telecommunications company is taken.

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What is Human Resource Management?
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, there was a precarious opinion about the state of human
resource workforces’ in Australia and its future aspects. It had been put forward that human
resource management had been making the advances which included a broadening of a series of
services; it still faced an indecisive situation with respect to its assimilation into formal business
structures.
The objective of HRM is managing people within the organization. It is the procedure which
involves selecting, recruiting, instating employees, conveying training and development and
appraisal of the employees. The work of HRM is to maintain relations among employers and
employees.
The role and responsibilities of HRM are the following:
 Recruitment: One of the major responsibilities of the HRM is to select people and recruit
them according to the qualification they possess. The role of an HR manager is to
conduct campaigns and issue guidelines for recruiting the right candidates as per the
requirement of the job. And before hiring the qualified candidate it is the duty of the HR
manager to communicate the policies and terms of the contract. The process of
recruitment comprises of two stages; i.e. to attract talent and the second is to hire
resources(Sheehan, et. al., 2016).
 Training: It is not necessary that all who are hired are suitable for the job. Training helps
the employees to get acquainted with the work pattern of the organization. It is the key
responsibility of the HRM to organize training programs for every new employee hired
based on their skills. The training also helps in motivating the employees. In order to
sync with the guidelines of the organization, the employees are subject to on-the-job
training. The training program shall not only guide the employees but the HR team also
gets an insight into the employees' workmanship.
 Appraisals: The HRM is a body who aims at maintaining relations at the workplace.
Performance appraisals motivate the employee to work more efficiently. It is also a
chance where they are given feedback based on their performances and pieces of advice

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on the potential measures that are to be taken. Hence, it encourages them to achieve
targets timely (Connell and Burgess, 2016).
 Maintaining Work culture and resolve conflicts: The duties of HRM also includes
maintaining a safe and healthy environment in order to make sure that the work level is
comfortable. HRM is responsible for eliminating stressful and awkward elements that
impact the performance of the employees. The HR manager is responsible for resolving
conflicts between the employees; whether the conflict is between the employees or
between the employer and employee. The HR personnel has every right to intervene and
come up with the solution in case of any conflict (Farndale et. al.,2019).
In relation to the functions discussed above the HRM is expected to do the following:
 To train the employees and adhere them with the knowledge of an organization's culture,
plans, and policies.
 In order to initiate the change, they are expected to act as a facilitator and as an expert.
 To formulate strategies
 To maintain communication lines between the people performing organizational
functions with, both outside and within the organization
 To take identify resources and develop strategies for the overall development of the
business
 To diagnose problems and take corrective measures
 To provide support and coordinate the employees
 To evaluate how the performance of the employees have impacted the organization in
achieving goals
 Appraise the employees in order to motivate them to work effectively and efficiently.
What they are not expected to do is:
 Hire the person who is not suitable for the job
 Commit any unjust practices
 Perform discriminatory functions which may take the organization to the court
 Conduct training programs that impact the efficiency of the performance
 Have the organization listed under federal occupational safety laws

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How can an organisation use HRM to become successful?
The organisations rely on the HRM for recruitment of the best employees and design an effective
training program for the employees. And the successful preservation program contributes in
giving the organisation a competitive advantage. The Human resource department plays a
vivacious part in the development of workforce and adds value to the organisation by forming
strategic policies(Connell and Burgess, 2016).
Adding value to the organization: Whether organizations hire a human resource expert or
outsource the services from an agency, HRM results in adding value to the business. Human
resource adds value to the business by recruiting and hiring people suited for the job and
improving the performance of the employee and keeps it out from getting into trouble. A good
human resource management team adds value by dealing with employee conflicts and can help
the organisation to avoid pitfalls.
HR integration: The most important demands that are put forward by the modern day
organisation are the integration between the HRM and business strategy. In the late twentieth,
Strategic Human Resource Management was introduced. It has aimed to develop a strategy
between the objectives of HRM and strategic goals. The object of SHRM is to advance the
performance of the association and to evolve the organizational culture and facilitate flexibility
and innovation. The integration of HRM and strategic planning may help the organization to
acquire the performance goals.
Strategic Partner: The studies have emphasized that the role of HRM in strategic activities is
not limited to decision making or role in acquisition and mergers but also to detect certain
elements that stance them to use it for strategic dynamism as a partner. The surveys have shown
that HR has a vital role in implementing strategic planning i.e. activities related to learning and
development of the organization(Nankervis et. al.,2016). The industry like telecommunications,
with the day to day development the HR needs to come up with new strategies to deal with the
competition.

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Improving organization culture: the HRM team has a direct influence on the organizational
culture. It is the job of the HRM team to develop procedures that comfort forming co-ordination
between the management and business strategy. The permutation of Delegative Management
style and business strategy focuses on the improvement of quality through the sharing of
knowledge. The role of HR is to create an organizational culture for the development of the
employees, where there is ease of sharing knowledge and opportunities for learning. The culture
of the organization conventional, two-way, team-driven or may possess other characteristics
(Banfield, et. al., 2018). It is quite evident from the past that the companies which possess
positive cultures result in better performance and productivity of the organization. The HR
manager should consider measuring organizational culture and effectiveness of the workforce.
Creating HR policies: The development of the policies should be taken seriously by the HRM
team to promote consistency and aids in creating a positive organizational culture where the
employees can work smoothly. The policies outline the organization’s responsibility to maintain
standards and it also includes the paperwork which is required in order to execute the policy. In
the process of making the policies more effective, the policies must target company values and
make them clear and specific and must also comply with laws and regulations.
Creating an ethical environment: A range of ethical challenges are faced by the Human
resource management as it is a department which deals with people employed by the company.
There are frequent ethical difficulties which may damage the reputation of the company and
commercial sustainability. The breach of ethical code may lead the organization to face civil or
criminal liability. For creating an ethical environment the HRM should avoid work environment
that involves hostility and discrimination(Sheehan, et. al.,2016).
Improving performance at the individual and organizational level: The performance of the
employees directly impacts the overall performance of the organization. The HRM practices aids
in creating the circumstances to achieve organizations’ goals by influencing employee
acknowledgment. Individual practices are anticipated to achieve the objectives of the
organization. HRMs practices like promoting and innovation are designed in a way that it
administrates signals to employees about the organizations’ expectations.

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Identify and discuss what problems and challenges faced by HRM in contemporary
organizations
Undoubtedly, the adoption of HRM results in benefits but they have to face many challenges
while performing their duties(Nankervis et. al.,2016). It is the duty of the HRM team to identify
the issues and take preventive measure or remedies to resolve them. Following are the issues
faced by an HRM team:
Retention: Recruiting the employees is not the only challenge faced by the HRM, retaining them
is the major challenge. Retention is necessary to decrease the rate of employee turnover. It is a
major challenge because the contingent workers are not attached with the organization, the
challenge faced by the employee is that to make them feel that they are part of the organization
(Rook, 2017).
Training: The bigger question is how training is challenging to HRM? In order to conduct
training programs, the following answers should be answered:
 What kinds of training programs are needed to be organized?
 What would be the objective of the training?
 How to make training programs effective?
 What groups are needed to be trained?
 What shall be the cost of programs?
The bigger challenge is identifying the factors affecting training; like location, team, cost, etc.
Health and Safety: The HRM must have all the information about the employees of the
organisation including the medical information. It is important for taking a measure that is
needed to been taken regarding the safety of the employees. The medical information helps the
organisation in having knowledge about what kind of tasks are harmless for the employees to
perform.
Discipline: One of the most important issues that need to be dealt with is maintaining the
discipline. In the absence of discipline, the organization may face difficulty in maintaining

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productivity. If the discipline is not maintained then the employees may adjourn their tasks and
may misbehave which may lead to conflict between the employees (Nankervis et. al.,2016).
Advancement in technology: The only thing which is consistent is change. Every organization
must take technological changes into consideration. If the organization shall not adopt change it
may get extinct. It impacts the overall activities of the work and the organization needs to find
out whether the employees are capable of adopting change (Sheehan, et. al., 2016). In a
telecommunications company like AUSTAR, it is quite challenging for it to deal with the
advancement in the field of technology.
Compliance with Laws: It is challenging for the HRM to keep up with changing employment
laws. It is important to comply with the state laws as well as the local laws.
How can these be dealt with?
The challenges faced by the HRM can be resolved by taking the following measures:
 Recruiting the top talent
 Embracing change with ease
 Developing the leaders for future
 Nurturing a culture of uninterrupted learning
 Managing diversity
 Managing health and safety
 Making superiority employee experience

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Conclusion
The report consists of the roles and responsibilities of HRM. The report evaluates the challenges
and issues faced by the HRM and what are the preventive measures needs to be taken. The report
also includes how HRM can help the organization to become successful. Thus, the importance of
HRM has been thoroughly been discussed in the report.

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References
 Banfield, P., Kay, R. &Royles, D.(2018). Introduction to human resource management.
Oxford University Press.
 Boxall, P., Bainbridge, H. &Frenkel, S.(2018). Styles of HRM in Australia and New
Zealand. In Handbook of Research on Comparative Human Resource Management.
Edward Elgar Publishing.
 Connell, J. & Burgess, J.(2016). The quality of working Australia and its relevance for
HRM and organisational effectiveness in the Asia Pacific. In the Asia Pacific Human
Resource Management and Organisational Effectiveness (pp. 171-192). Chandos
Publishing.
 Farndale, E., Horak, S., Phillips, J. &Beamond, M.(2019). Facing complexity, crisis, and
risk: Opportunities and challenges in international human resource
management. Thunderbird International Business Review.
 Nankervis, A.R., Baird, M., Coffey, J. & Shields, J., (2016). Human resource
management: strategy and practice. Cengage AU.
 Rook, L.(2017). Challenges Implementing Work-Integrated Learning in Human Resource
Management University Courses. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 18(3),
pp.199-212.
 Sheehan, C., De Cieri, H., Cooper, B.K. & Brooks, R.(2016). The impact of HR political
skill in the HRM and organisational performance relationship. Australian journal of
management, 41(1), pp.161-181.
 Van Berkel, R., Ingold, J., McGurk, P., Boselie, P. &Bredgaard, T.(2017). Editorial
introduction: An introduction to employer engagement in the field of HRM. Blending
social policy and HRM research in promoting vulnerable groups' labour market
participation. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(4), pp.503-513.