Human Resource Management in Australia
Human resource management is one of the most essential activities of any business organization. The most important resource of any business organization is the work force and its effective management is essential for the success of the business organization. The management of the human resource is a challenging task for the business organization and has to be taken up diligently by the management of the organization. This assignment is a reflective essay highlighting the human resource management in Australia, along with the roles and responsibilities that are to be carried out by the human resource management department, in order to ensure that the employees are happy and satisfied while working and their needs are fulfilled, along with the fulfilment of the needs of the organization. The strategic human resource management is also highlighted in this assignment.
The human resource management highlights the effective management of the personnel and ensure that the employment relationship are fulfilled successfully by both the employer as well as the employee (Akingbola 2013). The human resource management has a significant role to play in enhancing the working environment of any organization. The human resource management and its needs are described below.
- The HRM department needs to utilise the workforce of the recruited employees effectively, such that the organizational goals are fulfilled (Armstrong and Taylor 2014).
- This department creates opportunities for the present employees, to be promoted to the next level in the hierarchy (Beardwell and Thompson 2014).
- HR manager carries out the entire process of recruitment and selection of the personnel.
- The selection of the employees have to be done effectively, such that the best suitable personnel are selected for the fulfilment of the goals of the organization (Akingbola 2013).
- To ensure that the sense of belongingness as well as team-spirit is experienced by the employees.
- The HRM department ensures that the needs of the employees such as wages and salaries, need for leaves and holidays as well as the deserved compensations are given to the employees (Armstrong and Taylor 2014).
- The HRM also ensures that the mutual benefits of the company as well as the employees are met.
- It is important that the HR department ensures that no discrimination among the employees or disrespect among each other are taking place.
- It is essential that the employees are motivated enough, such that they are able to work diligently to fulfil the goals set by the organization (Kramar 2014).
The core functions of the human resource management department include the selection of the most appropriate personnel for the business organization, with conduction of rigorous selection procedure. Moreover, the selected employees have to be given the essential training, to align them with organizational goals (Akingbola 2013). Thus, the efficiency, with which the selected personnel are aligned to work for the fulfilment of the organization depends on the efficiency of the HRM department. The benefits of the HRM department are highlighted as follows:
- Monitoring the performance of the employees: The performance of the employees have to be monitored effectively, such that the employees with high performance could be effectively awarded and the employees not performing effectively are imposed with penalty (Beardwell and Thompson 2014).
- Ensuring the appropriate remuneration: The HRM has to ensure that the employees are given the most appropriate remuneration according to the skills they have (Akingbola 2013). Ensuring the most appropriate remuneration motivates the employees to work diligently and remain focussed.
- Performance appraisal: The performances have to be reviewed and performance appraisal interviews have to be conducted by the HRM department (Purce 2014). The performance appraisal gives the employees the opportunities to get better career scope and stay back in the organization for a longer time (Storey 2014).
- Identify the training needs: The training needs of the employees have to be identified (Sparrow et al. 2016). The training needs of each employee are different, hence the HRM department has to be efficient enough to identify the training needs of the employees and give the essential training needed (Chelladurai and Kerwin 2017). With the training needs being fulfilled, the employees will find themselves competent enough to face the new challenges.
- Maintain the working atmosphere: A positive working atmosphere has to be ensured by the HRM department (Reiche et al. 2016). The working atmosphere in the office has to be positive and cooperation among the employees has to be ensured by the HRM so that the employees are able to support each other to fulfil the organizational goals (Armstrong and Taylor 2014).
- Management of the disputes effectively: Disputes are common in any business organization. However, it is important that the disputes are mitigated as soon as it occurs. The HRM department has to ensure that the disputes are solved effectively and the employees work together in harmony.
- Development of public relations effectively: The public relations development is also enhanced by the effectiveness of the HRM department.
The overall human resource management of Australia is effective and ensures that the employees are satisfied and stay motivated to work diligently, such that the organizational goals are met successfully. I have learned about the various roles of the HRM department, along with the effectiveness of an efficient HRM department. Adequate importance is given to the employees as well as to the organization such that they experience mutual benefit. The experience, which I have regarding the HRM in Australia, is positive. The HRM department ensures that the employees are motivated enough, such that they work diligently (Brewster and Hegewisch 2017). Moreover, the compensation and the leave policies that are provided by the department are justified and has a positive effect on the employees.
Strategic Human Resource Management
While working in a business organization in Australia, I was asked to work in a new technology. However, I was not competent enough and was not confident to work in the mentioned technology. However, the HR manager successfully identified my need for training and gave me a week long training session, where I got the opportunity to learn the new technology and make myself comfortable. Thus, my needs as well as the needs of the organization was identified and fulfilled successfully.
Strategic human resource management refers to the human resource management activities, along with the policies of employee retention and employee satisfaction. The main goals of the SHRM are to enhance the employee productivity, along with employee satisfaction and employee retention (Jackson et al. 2013). The SHRM also includes the strategies to achieve the long –term goals of the business organization. The focus of the SHRM is as follows:
- The integration of the international business market with the work force of the business organization (Akingbola 2013).
- Ensures that the workforce adopts to rapid technology change (Budhwar and Debrah 2013)
- Ensures that the employees are satisfied and motivated
- Employee retention policies are adopted by the HR department
- Establishes cross-cultural working
The SHRM attempts to provide a direction to the employees, such that they all are aligned to a common goal. It also provides unified framework, which are based on contingency and integration (Beardwell and Thompson 2014). The SHRM models include the high performance management model, high commitment management model and high involvement management model. In the high competitive world, the SHRM is much more effective than the HRM (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). I have seen that the HRM policies fail to meet the requirements of the modern world organizations. Ensuring the effective selection and recruitment process, along with the identification of the training needs of the employees is not only enough (Paillé et al. 2014). It is important to ensure that the skilled employees are successfully retained (Lengnick et al. 2013). In order to ensure employee retention, employee satisfaction is essential. Work-life balance along with various developmental activities in the business organization is essential for the employee satisfaction and retention, along with the appropriate remuneration (Marchington et al. 2016). The recognition of the good work and high performance is also essential for the employee retention. Thus, the SHRM should ensure that these are fulfilled.
In my work-place, I have seen that extreme work pressure and lack of work-life balance is one of the main causes of the lack of employee retention. Even thought sufficient wages are paid, yet the positivity in the workplace and cooperation among the employees are essential. Thus, the SHRM has to ensure that these are fulfilled. Thus, along the effective HRM policies, the SHRM have to be implemented, such that the success of the organization and the retention of the employees are done (Paillé et al. 2014). There have been various incidents where the dissatisfaction of the employees has not been given adequate importance by the company, and hence it resulted in the loss of a skilled employee to a strong competitor. The top management often fail to realise the importance of the HRM and the SHRM (Marchington et al. 2016). However, both these are essential and has to be taken up successfully, such that the employees of the organization are able to work together in harmony. The safety and security of the employees have to be ensured as well. The workplace safety has to be ensured by the business organization (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). Lack of organizational safety will result in accidents, thus making the workplace unsafe. The safety assurance to the employees is essential and has to be given by the SHRM department. In my organization, the HRM and the SHRM policies are followed diligently. The satisfaction of the employees and their retention is done effectively (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). Identification of the training needs of the employees, and imparting adequate training is done, so that the employees are able to develop new skills and ensure self-development and learning. Various cultural programs and cross-cultural activities take place in my workplace, which are SHRM initiatives. We get to know the culture and customs of each other and respect individuality. Social gatherings and charitable programs are also arranged, thus ensuring CSR activities. Engaging ourselves in various developmental activities is positive and helps us to take active part in team-building. In order to ensure that work-life balance is maintained, long working hours or extended stay at the office are prohibited (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). Thus, the employees’ works, take part in social gatherings, engage themselves in self-development activities, along with spending quality time with their families. All these activities are effective SHRM initiatives and a positive step towards achievement of employee retention and employee satisfaction.
Conclusion
Human resource management and strategic human resource management are the most essential activities that need to be taken up by any business organization. Human workforce are the most important resource and its effective management is important and inevitable. Mere recruitment of the employees and conducting the selection procedures are not enough to ensure positive HRM and SHRM. Identification of the needs of the employees, along with the assurance of the safety of the employees, ensuing work-life balance, identification of the training needs of the employees, imparting adequate training and development of new skills, self-development has to be given importance. Various cultural programs along with cross-cultural activities are to be ensured, to impart a positive workplace environment. Efficient HRM and SHRM are essential for the success of the business organization. The HRM policies of Australia ensure equal pay and are against the gender discrimination. Equal opportunity is given to all employees and discrimination on the basis of sex, cast, creed and gender is strictly prohibited. This assignment successfully highlights the importance of the HRM and the SHRM, along with own experience. The importance of the management of human resources are realised and implemented successfully in Australia, thus making it a better place to work. Initiatives are taken to ensure that the employees are happy and satisfied while working and their needs are fulfilled. This ensures employees retention and satisfaction thus making the HRM and SHRM initiatives a major success.
References
Akingbola, K., 2013. A model of strategic nonprofit human resource management. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 24(1), pp.214-240.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Beardwell, J. and Thompson, A., 2014. Human resource management: a contemporary approach. Pearson Education.
Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. eds., 2017. Policy and Practice in European Human Resource Management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield Survey. Taylor & Francis.
Budhwar, P.S. and Debrah, Y.A. eds., 2013. Human resource management in developing countries. Routledge.
Chelladurai, P. and Kerwin, S., 2017. Human resource management in sport and recreation. Human Kinetics.
Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human resource management. Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp.1-56.
Kramar, R., 2014. Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource management the next approach?. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(8), pp.1069-1089.
Lengnick-Hall, M.L., Lengnick-Hall, C.A. and Rigsbee, C.M., 2013. Strategic human resource management and supply chain orientation. Human Resource Management Review, 23(4), pp.366-377.
Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.
Paillé, P., Chen, Y., Boiral, O. and Jin, J., 2014. The impact of human resource management on environmental performance: An employee-level study. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(3), pp.451-466.
Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.
Reiche, B.S., Mendenhall, M.E. and Stahl, G.K. eds., 2016. Readings and cases in international human resource management. Taylor & Francis.
Sparrow, P., Brewster, C. and Chung, C., 2016. Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.
Storey, J., 2014. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
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