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Managing Human Element at Work

Notes • Increased level of formal education which has led to changes in the well-educated
employees always challenge and question the management’s decisions and want a
voice in the company’s affairs affecting their interest.
Thus, many environmental factors affect the performance of specific tasks of HRM. Changes
in the internal and external environmental factors complicate the job both of line and
personnel managers in overseeing the contributions of human resources. Considering the
complexities and challenges in the HRM now and in near future managements have to
develop sophisticated techniques and competent people to manage personnel on sound lines.

1.6 Challenges Faced by HRM Today

Change has become ephemeral everywhere be it economy, politics, and business, and so on.
These changes require HRM to play an ever more crucial role in organizations.

1.6.1 The Changing Environment
Work Force Diversity: The Indian work force is characterized by diversity such as more
women entering the work force, minority-group members, older workers, etc. The increasing
number of women in the work force has necessitated the implementation of more flexible
work scheduling, child-care facilities, maternity leave and transfer to location of husband’s
place of posting.
The diverse work force has become a challenge for the HR manager. Diversity is marked
by two fundamental and inconsistent realities operating within it. One is that organizations
claim they seek to maximize diversity in the workplace. The second is that the traditional
human resource system will not allow diversity, only similarity. Experts in the field emphasize
that employers traditionally hire, appraise and promote people who fit a particular employer’s
image of what employees should believe in and do.
Economic and Technological Change: Technology has become the hallmark of modern
organizations. The explosive growth of information technology linked to the internet has
ushered in many changes throughout the organization. One of the major changes is the “fall
of hierarchy”. This fall of hierarchy is because earlier, if one wanted information one had
to stick to the chain of command. Now, that has changed; one has to just tap in. That is why
hierarchy has broken down. Now, employees do not need to be present at a definite place
of work. Instead, they can work from their own places through the Net. This has given birth
to the ‘virtual organization’. These economic and technological changes have created an
altogether different environment for HRM.
Globalization: New Economic Policy, 1991, has globalized the Indian economy. Firms that
formerly competed only with local firms now have to compete with foreign firms/
competitors. Globalization has given rise to MNCs. The MNCs are characterized by their
cultural diversity, intensified competition, variations in business practices, etc. Given these
conditions-from tapping the global labour force to formulating selection, training and
compensation policies for expatriate employees, major challenges have arisen for HRM.
Organizational Restructuring: Organizational restructuring is used to make the organization
competitive. As a part of organizational changes, many organizations have right sized’
themselves in various ways such as eliminating layers of managers, closing facilities, merging
with other organizations, or out placing workers. Whatever the form of restructuring, jobs
are being redesigned and people are affected. One of the challenges that HRM faces with
organizational restructuring is dealing with the human consequences of change. As such,
HRM needs to focus on the changed scenario, uniquely resulting in HR activities becoming
crucial for HR managers.

Changing Nature of Work: With change in technology, the nature of jobs and work has also
changed. One of the most significant changes in the nature of work is from manual to

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