Emerging trends in HRM

EMERGING TRENDS IN HRMfamily management will give way to professional
ABSTRACT:management with greater forces on human dignity.
The management has to recognize the important roleThus, in future personnel management will face new
of Human Resource Department in order tochallenges and perform new responsibilities.
successfully steer organizations towards profitability. ItParticipative leadership will take the place of autocratic
is necessary for the management to investleadership. Creative skills will have to be redeveloped
considerable time and amount, to learn the changingand rewarded emphasis will shift from legal and rule
scenario of the HR department in the 21st century. Inbound approach to more open and humanitarian
order to survive the competition and be in the race, HRapproach.
department should consciously update itself with theNEW TRENDS IN HR
transformation in HR and be aware of the HR issuesHuman resource management is a process of bringing
cropping up. With high attrition rates, poachingpeople and organizations together so that the goals of
strategies of competitors, there is a huge shortage ofeach other are met. The role of HR manager is shifting
skilled employees and hence, a company’s HRfrom that of a protector and screener to the role of a
activities play a vital role in combating this crisis.planner and change agent. Personnel directors are the
Suitable HR policies that would lead to thenew corporate heroes. The name of the game today
achievement of the Organization as well as thein business is personnel . Nowadays it is not possible to
individual’s goals should be formulated. HRshow a good financial or operating report unless your
managers have to manage all the challenges that theypersonnel relations are in order.
would face from recruiting employees, to training them,Over the years, highly skilled and knowledge based
and then developing strategies for retaining them andjobs are increasing while low skilled jobs are
building up an effective career management systemdecreasing. This calls for future skill mapping through
for them. Just taking care of employees would not beproper HRM initiatives.
enough; new HR initiatives should also focus on theIndian organizations are also witnessing a change in
quality needs, customer-orientation, productivity andsystems, management cultures and philosophy due to
stress, team work and leadership building. This book isthe global alignment of Indian organizations. There is a
divided into two sections that throw light on theneed for multi skill development. Role of HRM is
emerging HR trends and discusses HR issues inbecoming all the more important.
various industries like financial services, IT, Power,Some of the recent trends that are being observed
Healthcare, to name a few. This book should beare as follows:
valuable for practicing HR managers of every- The recent quality management standards ISO 9001
organization and also for those who have a significantand ISO 9004 of 2000 focus more on people centric
interest in the area of Human Resource Management,organizations. Organizations now need to prepare
to realize the growing importance of human resourcesthemselves in order to address people centered
and understand the need to build up effective HRissues with commitment from the top management,
strategies to combat HR issues arising in the 21stwith renewed thrust on HR issues, more particularly on
century.training.
IntroductionHuman Resource Management has- Charles Handy also advocated future organizational
evolved considerably over the past century, andmodels like Shamrock, Federal and Triple I. Such
experienced a major transformation in form andorganizational models also refocus on people centric
function primarily within the past two decades. Drivenissues and call for redefining the future role of HR
by a number of significant internal and externalprofessionals.
environmental forces, HRM has progressed from a- To leapfrog ahead of competition in this world of
largely maintenance function, with little if any bottom lineuncertainty, organizations have introduced six- sigma
impact, to what many scholars and practitioners todaypractices. Six- sigma uses rigorous analytical tools with
regard as the source of sustained competitiveleadership from the top and develops a method for
advantage for organizations operating in a globalsustainable improvement. These practices improve
economy.organizational values and helps in creating defect free
CHANGES IN HRM :   Some of the significantproduct or services at minimum cost.
changes that are likely to take place in the human- Human resource outsourcing is a new accession that
resource management are as follows:makes a traditional HR department redundant in an
1. Increase in education levels: Due to technologicalorganization. Exult, the international pioneer in HR BPO
progress and the spread of educational institutionsalready roped in Bank of America, international players
workers will increasingly become aware of their higherBP Amoco & over the years plan to spread their
level needs, managers will have to evolve appropriatebusiness to most of the Fortune 500 companies.
policies and techniques to motivate the knowledge of- With the increase of global job mobility, recruiting
workers. Better educated and organized workforcecompetent people is also increasingly becoming difficult,
will demand greater discretion and autonomy at theespecially in India. Therefore by creating an enabling
work place.culture, organizations are also required to work out a
2. Technological developments: This will requireretention strategy for the existing skilled manpower.
retraining and mid-career training of both workers andFUTURE ROLE OF PERSONNEL MANAGERS
managers. Rise of the international corporation is            Some of the emerging trends in
proving new challenges for personnel function.the role of personnel manager are as follows:-
3. Changing composition of work force: In future,    (i).   Personnel managers of future will have to
women and minority groups, SCs and STs wouldstress upon overall development of human resources
become an important source of man power in futurein all respects.
on account of easy access to better educational and  (ii).   The scope of human resource management
employment opportunities. Therefore manpowerwill be extended to cover career planning and
planning of every organization will have to take intodevelopment, organization development, social justice
consideration the potential availability of talent in theseetc.
groups. Changing mix of the workforce will lead to (iii).   Enlightened trade unions will become an active
new values in organizations.participant in the organization and management of
4. Increasing government role: In India, personnelindustry.
management has become very legalized. In future(iv).   The personnel manager will be required to act
private organizations will have to co-ordinate theiras a change agent through greater involvement in
labour welfare programmes with those of the‘environment and scanning and development
government private sector will be required increasinglyplanning. They will have to devote more time to
to support government efforts for improving publicpromote changes than to maintain the status quo.
health, education training and development and  (v).  The personnel function will become more
infrastructure.cost-conscious and profit oriented. Instead of merely
5. occupational health and safety: Due to legislativeadministering personnel activities, the personnel
presence and trade union movement, personneldepartment will have to search out opportunities for
management will have to be more healthy and safetyprofit improvement and growth.
conscious in future.(vi).   Greater authority and responsibilities will be
6. Organizational development: in future, change willdelegated to personnel managers particularly in the
have to be initiated and managed to improvefield of employee welfare services.
organizational effectiveness. Top management will(vii).  Personnel managers will have to continuously
become more actively involved in the development ofretrain themselves to avoid obsolescence of their
human resources.knowledge and skills.
7. New work ethic: greater forces will be on projectThus, the job of personnel managers will become
and team forms of organization. As changing workmore difficult and challenging in future. They will have
ethic requires increasing emphasis on individual. Jobsto be experts in behavioral sciences. They will play a
will have to redesigned to provide challenge.creative and development role. They will thus have
8. Development planning: personnel management willplay a creative and development role. They will have
be involved increasingly in organizational planning,to acquire new skills, values, attitudes to discharge their
structure, composition etc. Greater cost-consciousnessnew responsibilities successfully.
and profit-orientations will be required on the part of Conclusion:
the personnel department.“I never predict. I just look out the window and see
9. Better appraisal and reward systems: organizationswhat is visible – but not yet seen” (Peter
will be required to share gains of higher periodicity withDrucker)
workers more objective and result oriented systemsTrends in Human resource management have
of performance, appraisal and performance linkedchanged the way we work, as organizations are more
compensation will have to be developed.depended on HRM to increase the success ratio in
10. New personnel policies: new and better polices willtoday’s competitive global environment.
be required for the work force of the future. Traditional