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Unit 10: Staffing and Coordination

Notes
different from those of their predecessor organisations: like greater self control, less
interest in job security; no expectations of long-term employment; greater
participation urge in work activities, demanding opportunities for personal growth
and creativity) to stay on without attractive compensation packages and novel reward
schemes.
2. Technology driven companies are led by project teams, possessing diverse skills,
experience and expertise. Flexible and dynamic organisational structures are needed
to take care of the expectations of managers, technicians and analysts who combine
their skills, expertise and experience to meet changing customer needs and
competitive pressures.
3. Cost cutting efforts have led to the decimation of unwanted layers in organisational
hierarchy in recent times. This, in turn, has brought in the problem of managing
plateaued employees whose careers seem to have been hit by the delayering process.
Organisations are, therefore, made to find alternative career paths for such
employees.

4. Both young and old workers, these days, have values and attitudes that stress less
loyalty to the company and more loyalty to oneself and one's career than those
shown by employees in the past, Organisations, therefore, have to devise appropriate
HR policies and strategies so as to prevent the flight of talented employees.

10.2.3 Economic Challenges

Nowadays the world is shrinking in all major respects. People, goods, capital and information
are moving around the globe as never before. Companies are trying to become global players
just to survive; let alone prosper. Coca-cola, a leader in this respect, derives roughly 80 per cent
of its profits from foreign sales. IBM, Mobil, Citicorp, Motorola, Gillette too earn more than half
of their revenues from operations outside USA. International borders have been ruthlessly
ignored or thoroughly discounted when it comes to serving business interests. Todays' managers
in big firms are quite comfortable transacting business in multiple languages and cultures. In
the new global marketplace HR managers are required to play challenging roles and create a
competitive advantage for the firm. Competitive advantage refers to the ability of an organisation
to formulate strategies to exploit profitable opportunities, thereby maximising its return on
investment. To this end, global firms are continually reorganising their operations and refocusing
their energies around their crucial areas of competence.

10.2.4 Workforce Diversity

Handling work force diversity is a major task of HRM today. Diversity in the field of HRM can
be defined as the situation that arises when employees differ from each other in terms of age,
gender, ethnicity, education, etc. Workforce diversity means that organisations are becoming
more heterogeneous in terms of age, gender, race, ethnicity, etc.

Composition: The composition of the workforce is changing in India. Young, skilled and
knowledgeable employees are occupying positions of importance. At the same time, thanks to
the opening up of the private sector, employees are no more fascinated by secure, less-paying,
routine and standardised jobs offered by the public sector and other government-owned and
controlled organisations. Organisations now cannot discriminate on the basis of age. They must
listen to their experienced employees, to draw from their expertise and initiate programmes
that meet these needs.

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