Introduction
Proper management in the modern business environment is a significant criterion that largely determines the success of a particular organization and its recognition in the market. One of the aspects of heads’ work is the control over personnel, in particular, the distribution of immediate duties. The significance of this practice lies in the fact that talented and professional employees are able to solve a wide range of useful and valuable tasks, which is a priority for most enterprises, and both individual and teamwork is essential in the context of all operations.
Human resource management (HRM) as a separate field is characterized by various approaches and methodologies designed to establish subordinates’ work and coordinate all production processes performed by personnel. Bratton and Gold (2017, p. 3) define this area and note that this type of activity is intended to regulate employees’ practical operations and control staffing, thereby providing “labour market flexibility”. As a result, those techniques that hiring and retention specialists use today vary depending on the interests of organizations and their current needs.
This work is aimed at describing the key features of HRM as a separate activity in the framework of the modern business environment. The goals are to determine the importance of this practice in relation to today’s organizations, describe the merits of this activity for enterprises and employees themselves, as well as classify the key issues that HRM specialists face in their everyday work. As sources for substantiating specific theories and assumptions, relevant academic resources will be engaged to justify particular ideas. HRM is the field of activity that directly affects the success of business organizations in view of the importance of hiring and retaining professional and talented employees, as well as coordinating and distributing the workforce in accordance with firms’ current needs and market interests.
Importance of Human Resource Management
Since the staff of any organization is the executor of all managers’ instructions, leaders strive to ensure that subordinates fulfill the assigned tasks diligently and professionally. In this regard, HRM practices are of great importance for companies’ performance and their success. Regardless of the size of a company and its market position, a personnel policy is the area that largely determines production results and the sustainability of a company. If employees are selected competently, the leadership has an opportunity to conduct flexible activities and resort to various innovations and changes in the operational mode. Therefore, the importance of HRM in modern organizations is due to productivity that may increase if appropriate hiring and retention practices are utilized.
Maintaining a stable and efficient employee management system is essential not only from the perspective of production goals but also some aspects of internal work. Albrecht et al. (2015) note that organizational climate largely depends on how HRM techniques are focused on ensuring subordinates’ comfort. Those requirements presented by the management to employees may be formulated differently, and the quality of interaction between leaders and the team directly determines the mood in the collective and employees’ willingness to realize their professional potential comprehensively. Consequently, both the production and organizational aspects of personnel activities are determined by those HRM principles to which leaders adhere.
Based on the importance of HRM practices for today’s organizations, one can note the variability of approaches to personnel control. As Albrecht et al. (2015) state, those guidelines for HR practices that affect various aspects of interaction with personnel, for instance, selection, training, socialization, and other nuances, make it possible to maintain the operating mode that is relevant at a particular stage. Thus, the importance of HRM activities in today’s organizations is explained by a number of reasons, in particular, setting goals, coordinating the microclimate, as well as choosing different staffing solutions.
Benefits of Human Resource Management to Employees
Often, work in some organizations is associated with high workload experienced by employees and too complicated leaders’ demands. According to Guest (2017), if a company’s staff is worried about working conditions that are challenging and feels a threat to personal comfort, competent management is to resort to appropriate HRM techniques. These practices, in turn, are designed to establish a production regime and support subordinates, thereby demonstrating management’s interest in the well-being of personnel. Therefore, effective methods of monitoring performance and training specialists are valuable programs for both employers and employees.
One of the significant aspects of HRM work in relation to maintaining the well-being of subordinates is the variability of the approaches that exist today. Guest (2017, p. 23) mentions “the growth in employment flexibility” and argues that due to the valuable practices of management interaction with employees, the latter have an opportunity to plan their work-life balance more efficiently. Creating conditions for productive activities allows workers to concentrate on fulfilling their assigned charges and realize their professional potential comprehensively, without being distracted by third-party tasks that are not included in the spectrum of immediate responsibilities.
As Guest (2017) remarks, based on academic findings, this mode of operation leads to subordinates’ higher productivity and stimulates their interest in achieving higher goals. Therefore, the benefits that employees receive through appropriate HRM practices are associated with skill growth and the implementation of professional competencies.
Maintaining sound HRM methods allows employees to avoid misunderstandings with management. Guest (2017) states that the conflicting outcomes of subordinates’ interaction with organizations’ heads are often caused by misunderstanding and the divergence of views concerning subordinates’ personal responsibility. The introduction of the necessary principles of team management makes it possible to suppress any controversial situations and coordinates the activities of workers competently, thus giving them more personal freedom.
Benefits of Human Resource Management to Organizations
In addition to the benefits to employees, the introduction of HRM-related techniques has value to organizations. Boon et al. (2018) argue that one of the main advantages of competent personnel management is an opportunity to achieve those goals that firms set. The ability to coordinate subordinates’ activities in accordance with the current needs and requirements of the market avoids the difficulties of maintaining a certain course of activity, thereby withstanding competition and accumulating capital through the implementation of plans. The consequence of this work is avoiding bankruptcy and any other financial difficulties caused by insufficiently efficient work and the lack of employee initiatives. Therefore, relevant HRM practices are of high importance for business organizations.
Stable capital accumulation and the achievement of favorable market positions are not the only advantages that HRM practices provide. According to Boon et al. (2018), competent personnel management is the key to cost reduction by allocating time and money for training employees reasonably. The author also notes that business organizations will not have to face legal issues and challenges caused by employees’ complaints regarding dissatisfaction with working conditions (Boon et al. 2018).
Proper management provides for the absence of disagreements that, in turn, lead to low labor efficiency and inhibit all operational issues. If the staff is satisfied with the current mode of activities and is ready for flexibility in relation to the fulfillment of assigned tasks, this not only brings profit to organizations but also serves as additional motivation and background for engaging innovative approaches to improve work results. Thus, business leaders can benefit from the use of appropriate HRM techniques.
Key Issues of Human Resource Management in Today’s Organizations
Despite the importance of HRM practices for both organizations and employees, in this area of activity, there are some issues that affect different stakeholders. As Nasir (2017, p. 2017) notes, it may be difficult for people who design hiring and HR programs “to develop employees in accordance to global environmental factors as well as international marketplace”. Organizational tasks that are assigned to subordinates do not always cover all the required aspects of activities. As a result, managers are forced to create additional techniques so that employees could not only fulfill immediate responsibilities efficiently but also work in accordance with current external factors, for instance, increased competition or flexible demand. Therefore, HR specialists are sometimes limited in their strategic operations due to the high dynamics of the market.
Since personnel management involves creating and implementing appropriate hiring practices, those in charge may encounter challenges in this work. According to Nasir (2017), issues in this field include communication gaps between HR specialists and job seekers, insufficiently advanced retention programs for talented employees, and some other nuances. In addition, the author notes difficulties in promoting organizational culture as one of the challenges (Nasir 2017).
The ethics of the manager-subordinate interaction is an essential aspect of corporate policies where different levels of communication are maintained. The problems of distinctive cultural preferences, disagreements on gender or racial grounds, and other issues create significant difficulties for the control of employees. Solving these issues is a crucial task in a modern business environment where much depends on the diligence of workers and the cohesion of the team. Therefore, correctly selected and implemented HRM practices are the valuable methods of interaction between the leadership and subordinates and the important operational mechanisms of most modern organizations that follow the principles of corporate culture.
Conclusion, Findings, and Recommendations
When summarizing the results of the assessment and analysis of the importance of HRM techniques and their relevance, one can note that the practices used to correctly control the hiring process and subordinates’ activities serve as valuable mechanisms for both organizations and employees. The conditions created in companies for interacting with personnel largely influence production success, market recognition, and financial aspects.
The development of employees’ professional competencies is one of the consequences of applying corresponding approaches to personnel management. Factors affecting the quality of HR specialists’ work can vary, and following the current needs of organizations along with the competent allocation of resources is the key to productive communication between managers and subordinates. It is essential to overcome the challenges caused by various factors timely in order to ensure a stable operating mode and prevent the deterioration of production results due to improperly planned HR activities.
The hiring of employees and their retention are urgent tasks in the modern business environment, and the development of the necessary methods is of high value in view of the ability to maintain companies’ stable activities.
In accordance with the findings in the academic sources chosen for this research, the topic of the importance of HRM in contemporary business organizations is extremely relevant, and its analysis is the subject of many scholarly studies. The evaluation of hypotheses and assumptions regarding the role of special approaches to maintaining productive interaction between managers and subordinates allows stating the significance of HR specialists’ roles and their professional competencies.
The qualifications of employees, the ability to carry out immediate tasks responsibly and diligently, and following the provisions of corporate culture are the crucial aspects of most HRM techniques promoted in business organizations. In addition to the challenges caused by misunderstanding between staff and management, internal conflicts among colleagues may arise, which is one of the consequences of the insufficiently advanced principles of the work process organization. In general, the findings confirm that planning personnel management activities is an essential task in a modern business environment.
As a recommendation to develop HRM practices and improve interaction between employees and organizations’ heads, specialists responsible for the promotion of appropriate techniques should pay more attention to the method of engaging and retaining talented staff. This measure will ensure the stable operation of firms and enable leaders to introduce appropriate innovations quickly and efficiently. Also, the competent assessment of corporate culture as an aspect of activities is a valuable initiative.
The analysis of a specific working environment will provide productive interaction among team members and will be a useful practice that may help prevent conflicts on different grounds. In general, managers’ interest in developing and implementing principles for controlling subordinates is an important aspect of activities due to a competitive environment, dynamic customer demand, and constantly changing market needs. Creating conditions for the promotion of HRM is an integral stage of organizational work in any company, and all stakeholders should participate in implementing the provisions of this technique.
Reference List
Albrecht, SL, Bakker, AB, Gruman, JA, Macey, WH & Saks, AM 2015, ‘Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: an integrated approach’, Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 7-35.
Boon, C, Eckardt, R, Lepak, DP & Boselie, P 2018, ‘Integrating strategic human capital and strategic human resource management’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 34-67.
Bratton, J & Gold, J 2017, Human resource management: theory and practice, 6th edn, Palgrave, London.
Guest, DE 2017, ‘Human resource management and employee well-being: towards a new analytic framework’, Human Resource Management Journal, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 22-38.
Nasir, SZ 2017, ‘Emerging challenges of HRM in 21st century: a theoretical analysis’, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 216-223.