Work-Life balance

In recent years, the work-life balance of employees has been much more contemplated. Experts insist on the importance of achieving and maintaining work-life balance. Who does this concept apply to? The concept of work-life balance can be applied to all employees within the organization both locally and globally.

Various pressures in life will bring stress. Many of the stressful life events are connected to the work environment. Employees who start to feel the pressure to perform are likely to get caught in a downward spiral of increasing effort to meet rising expectations but no increase in job satisfaction.

Many organizations are trying to promote work-life balance by including initiatives such as flexible working hours, part-time work and childcare facilities. However, various studies show that most employees can not balance their professional and personal lives. Few people manage the balance of work and life well (Tewathia, 2014).

In Asian countries, work and family problems have only recently begun to attract attention. A long working culture has exacerbated the pressures of rapid social change and increasing global competition, particularly in countries like China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. In addition, female workforce participation increases, more and more Asian workers are now trapped between the needs of work and family life (Luo and Cooper, 2015).

European countries dominate and ranked highly for work-life balance. According to the analysis made by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD), following are the best-ranked countries for Work-Life Balance as of November 2017:

Figure 1: Top 5 countries with the better Work-Life Balance (Oecdbetterlifeindex, 2017)

Reference:

Tewathia, N. (2014). Work-Life Balance in the IT Sector, International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology 3(7).

Luo, L. and Cooper, C.L. (2015). Handbook of research on Work-Life Balance in Asia. Edward Elgar Publishing.

OECD, (2017). Work-Life Balance. [online]. Available at: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/
topics/work-life- balance/ [Accessed 27 November 2017].

Employee Learning

In most working environments, there is usually some form of training. This training takes different forms, from hands-on experience to read manuals, to viewing online media information. The way employees absorb and process information vary from one to another. They also have different natural tendency to learn the style (Morgan, 2011).

Described below is the most useful and widely implemented learning style models.

Kolb's Learning Cycle
An American educational theorist David A. Kolb whose interests and writings focus on experiential learning, personal and social change, career development and executive and professional education.

Kolb's learning cycle is a well-known theory, which advocates that we learn from our life experience, even on a day-to-day basis. It also considers reflection as an integral part of this learning. According to the Kolb (1984) study, the learning process follows a four-phase pattern or cycle. These phases are explained and summarized below:

Figure 1: Kolb's Learning Cycle (Skillsyouneed, 2016).

Concrete experience

Kolb's cycle starts with a concrete experience. In other words, it begins with doing something in which the individual, team or organisation are assigned a task. Key to learning, therefore, is active involvement. In Kolb's model, one cannot learn by simply watching or reading about it, to learn effectively the individual, team or organisation must actually do.

Reflective observation

Reflective observation is the second stage of Kolb's cycle. This means taking a time-out from "doing" and stepping back from the task and reviewing what has been done and experienced. At this stage, lots of questions are asked and communication channels are opened to others members of the team. Vocabulary is very important and requires verbal communication and discussion with others.

Abstract conceptualisation

The third stage is Abstract Conceptualisation, a process of making sense of what has happened and involves interpreting the events and understanding the relationships between them. At this stage, learners compare what they do, think and what they already know. They can draw on textbook theories to build and interpret events, their familiar models, their colleagues' points of view, previous observations, or any other knowledge they have developed.

Active experimentation

The final stage of the learning cycle is how learners think about how to put what they have learned into practice. Planning enables taking a new understanding and translates it into predictions as to what will happen next or what actions should be taken to refine or revise the way a task is to be handled. For learning to be useful most people need to place it in a context that is relevant to them. If one cannot see how the learning is useful to one's life then it is likely to be forgotten very quickly. Employee efficiency requires training to meet each requirement more or less equally (Kolb, 1984).

Honey and Mumford's Learning Styles

Kolb proposed above as a cycle. But there’s no question that while we all go through the cycle when we learn something, we also all prefer to start in different places and to spend more time on some aspects than others.

Two men named Peter Honey and Alan Mumford noticed this and based their work on Kolb's theory of learning style.

Figure 2: Honey and Mumford's Learning Styles (Getfeedback.net, 2018).

Activist - Activists are those people who learn by doing. Activists need to get their hands dirty, to dive in with both feet first. An open attitude toward learning, full participation and no prejudice of new experience.

Theorist - These learners like to understand the theory behind the behaviour. They need models, concepts, and facts to participate in the learning process.

Reflector - These people learn by observing and thinking about what happened. They tend to stand on a different perspective to observe the experience, collect data and spend time trying to reach the appropriate conclusions.

Pragmatist - These people need to be able to see how to put the learning into practice in the real world. The use of abstract concepts and games is limited unless they come up with a way to put these ideas to work. Experimenters try new ideas, theories and techniques to see if they work (Honey and Mumford, 1986).

Reference:

Morgan, R. (2011). How to Address Learning Styles in Workplace Training. [online] Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/address-learning-styles-workplace-training-10222.html [Accessed 26 November 2017].

Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (1986). Using your learning styles. Peter Honey.

Getfeedback.net. (2017). The four learning styles. [online] Available at: http://www.getfeedback.net/products/detail/Learning_Styles [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].

Skillsyouneed, (2016). Learning Styles [online] Available at: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/learning-styles.html [Accessed 24 Nov. 2017].

Why do people leave organizations?

Employees leave organizations because of different reasons. These could be personal or official. Every employee has different reasons for working. The ultimate objective of an employee is to gain benefits (financial and non-financial) out of it.

The most common reasons for leaving an organization can be:

• The job is not what the employee expected to be.
• Job and person mismatch.
• New attractive job and better compensation packages being offered by other companies/competitors.
• Lack of growth opportunities in the job.
• Lack of appreciation by the superiors which will lead to demotivation and lose interest.
• Lack of trust and support in co-workers, seniors and management.
• Stress and work-life balance (Branham, 2005).

Many employees are not happy with recognition and performance appraisal done by the HR department or management. Therefore, they should pay attention to that. The company management must give employees the appropriate remuneration in order to retain these people for a long time.  Many employees are feeling workload pressure and stress. Therefore, the organization should focus on their calm workload in order to reduce the pressure on employees. The relationship between employees and management has to improve (Mathimaran & Kumar, 2017).

Reference:

Branham, L. (2005). The 7 hidden reasons employees leave: how to recognize the subtle signs and act before it's too late. New York, American Management Association.

Mathimaran, K.B. & Kumar, A.A. (2017). KumarEmployee Retention Strategies – An Empirical Research, Global Journal of Management and Business Research: E-Marketing,17(1).

Training & Development - How Important in the Workplace?

The training programs are will always be a prime opportunity for employees to develop their knowledge base. But some employers consider that the staff development training programs are expensive and cost to the company. Generally, while they are in the training employees work hours is reduced, which may obstruct the completion of allocated job tasks or projects. Despite the potential drawbacks, staff training and development gives both the organization and the employees with benefits that make the cost and time a valuable investment (Khan, 2011).

Some of the outcomes of the staff training programs are as follows:

Addressing Weaknesses: Some employees have weaknesses in their workplace skills. A training program allows strengthening those skills that every employee needs to improve. A development training program carries all employees to a higher level so they all have identical skills and knowledge. This will help people to work independently without getting help from others.  

Improved Employee Performance: Employees who receive training will be able to perform their job well. The training may also build the employee's confidence because they have a stronger understanding of the industry and the responsibilities of their job. This confidence may push them to do even better and think of new concepts that help them shine.

Consistency: A well-planned training and development program guarantees that employees have a consistent experience and knowledge. The consistency is relevant for the company's fundamental policies and procedures. All employees should understand the company's expectations and practices. It includes safety, discrimination and administrative tasks. By regularly training all employees in these locations, be sure to pass at least some of your information to all employees.

Employee Satisfaction: The investment in training that an organization makes shows the employees they are valued and appreciated. The training creates a helpful work environment. Employees who feel appreciated and challenged through training opportunities may feel more satisfaction toward their jobs. (Frost, 2018).

Reference

Khan, R.A.G. Khan, F.A. Khan, M.A. (2011). Impact of Training and Development on Organizational Performance. Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 11(7).

Smallbusiness,

Frost, S. (2018). The Importance of Training & Development in the Workplace. [online] http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-training-development-workplace-10321.html. [Accessed 31 January 2018].

Talent Management Process

Talent management is an activity pool of strategic roles that attracts, selects, fosters and retains the best employees (Scullion & Collings, 2011). Organizations must be with the capacity and ability to appreciate the employees and skills that may produce value for the organization and give a competitive advantage; more than that, the aim of talent management is to develop and deploy the appropriate employees to the right jobs at the appropriate time and grant them the best conditions to prove their skills and capabilities to the organization in the better and possible way (Uren, 2011).

People are, without a doubt the best assets of an organization. Sourcing the best people from the industry has turned into the best most need of the organizations today. In such focused scenario, talent management has turned into the key strategy to recognize and fill the expertise gap in an organization by enrolling the high-worth people from the industry. It is a timeless process that starts with focusing employees. The procedure guides the entrance and departure of capable employees in the company. To go ahead in business, talent management is unavoidable (Managementstudyguide, 2015).

Talent Management(TM) versus Human Resources Management(HRM)
The relationship between the Talent management and Human resource management have frequently discussed. HRM focuses total employees, where TM focuses on “key talent” or “top talent”. Key talent defined as the one who exceeds expectations in setting the right behaviour fast in learning. (Morgan and Jardin, 2010).

Human resources (HR) departments can hire and train competent employees. But developing and motivating the employee must be the responsibility of all management from the Chairman to a supervisor. TM is only a part of HRM

Following stages are included in talent management process:

Understanding the Requirement:  The fundamental goal is to determine the requirement of talent. The primary activities of this stage are creating sets of the job description and job specifications.

Sourcing the Talent: This is the second phase of the talent management process, which includes focusing on the best people in the industry. The main goal is to hunt people as required.

Attracting the Talent: It is vital to pull in the talented people to work with you as the entire procedure spins around this only. At last the main aim of the talent management is to find and recruit best people to the organisation.

Recruiting the Talent: The actual process of hiring begins from here. This is the phase when people are welcome to join the organization.

Selecting the Talent: This includes meeting with different people having same or diverse capabilities and ranges of abilities as said in an expected set of the job description. Applicants who qualify this round are welcome to join the organization.

Training and Development: Subsequent to enrolling the best people, they are trained and developed to get the desired output.

Retention: Hiring the talented people do not serve the purpose completely. Retention relies upon different variables such as remuneration package, job specification, challenges involved in a job, role, personal development of an employee, recognition, culture and the fit between job and talent.

Promotion: No employee can work in an organization at the same designation with same job responsibilities. Job advancement plays an important part.

Competency Mapping: Assessing employees’ skills, development, ability and competency is the next step. If needed, attention should also be paid to the possibilities of behaviour, attitudes, knowledge and future improvements. If the person is suitable for further promotion, it will give you a brief idea.

Performance Appraisal: Measuring the actual performance of an employee is important to recognize his or her true potential. It is to check whether the employee can be stacked with extra additional duties or not.

Career Planning: If an employee is well placed to deal with work stress and additional work, management needs to plan his or her growth, so that he or she can feel the reward.Accepting their effort will keep them for a longer service.

Succession Planning: Succession planning is all about who will replace whom in near future. The employee who has given his best to the organization and has been serving it for a very long time deserves to hold the higher position. Management needs to plan about when and how succession will happen.

Exit: The process stops when an employee gets retired or is no more a part of the organization (Managementstudyguide, 2015).

Reference:

Managementstudyguide (2016). Talent Management Process. [online] Available at: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/talent-management-process.htm [Accessed 11 Nov. 2017].

Scullion, H. and Collings, D. (2011). Global talent management. New York: Routledge.

Uren, L. (2011). What talent wants: the journey to talent segmentation. Strategic HR Review, 10(6).

The Effect of Globalization on HRM

What is globalization?

Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world.

Impact of Globalization on Human Resource Management

To overcome the seriousness of the competition through globalization, a knowledge based economy emerged instead of the previous domain. Globalization is further emphasizing greater diversity. Companies and its Human resource professional have a great challenge in managing their employees.

Innovative new technologies or software have introduced to assist human resource professionals to manage the processes involved in globalization. But, there are some challenges faced by the businesses. The human resources department must learn to recruit and retain talented employees on a global scale. So, company must cope with changing demands. Human resource professional will have to predict and manage culture-fit policies.

Companies are focusing on people with the right profiles as also those who are more capable.

With the great impact of globalization, demand for people has increased for highly skilled jobs, or positions that require specialized knowledge. It becomes difficult for human resource professionals to locate such people in the nearby areas, they have looked for them globally. HR professionals increasingly are tasked with operating new computer systems required to manage a global workforce. Human resource professionals must spend a considerable time and effort to learn new platforms when their companies rely on the latest software to manage a worldwide workforce.

Another challenging aspect of globalization on human resource professionals is the need to discover and learn the cultural differences at play with their new global workforce. They must know how best to communicate company goals and missions, integrate diverse value systems into their companies and coordinate the activities of all their employees to achieve their goals. 

With advancement in technology, change in use of technology is also required. It becomes necessary for the organization to use the latest techniques and software. The organizations are tasked with operating new system software. This requires considerable amount of time and effort to make the employees learn new platforms. Even the employee retention is of top concern for both international and domestic companies.

No doubt, Internet has made global communication simpler, but time zones have not. HR must devise ways to deliver and communicate vital information in a timely manner. To meet this challenge, Human Resource department must deliver the emergency information through email alerts or telephonically, so that no communication gap occurs.

Certain training programs needed to be devised to deliver training to the employees sitting in distant locations. This can be achieved by the virtual training concept, which can be conducted through online videos or teleconferences. The other challenge for the companies is if they want to send an employee abroad for work purposes, they must make suitable arrangements for him which might even include asking him to develop new language skills.

The most important thing that needs to be considered by the organizations and a company is to understand and apply the laws of different jurisdictions to a particular organization or company. There are not only tax and labor laws to be considered but also regional and local laws that apply to companies that operate in different states or different countries. Hiring employees at branch locations in different locations might change the requirements on minimum wage, tax allowances or working hours. Understanding and following of these laws is vitally important as it has a great impact on the reputation and working of the company or organization.

Source: https://www.technocreats.com/blog/67/impact-of-globalization-on-human-resource-management

How Does Technology Impact HR Practices?

Technology has thrown many changes in the economy and business in the world. Computers and the Internet has increased that impact significantly. Most businesses are not able to operate without technology today. This effect is seen in about all areas of business, including HR, where technology keeps on significantly affecting HR practices.

Recruitment

Today's technology has greatly affected the recruitment process. Prior to the Internet arrival, most recruitment advertisements were visible only in newspapers. Apart from that a few of the recruitment companies were operating. Training centers were too contacted to find freshers. However, there were no recruiting advertisements in the sight of the millions at that time. Today's technology and the Internet are not only brought to millions of people, but also ensures that you select qualified people.

Training

Information and communication technology allows human resources professionals to train new employees in a more efficient manner. New staff members will have to access to company information and training materials from remote locations. This eliminates trainers to work closely or directly with the  staff. Training are done through virtual classrooms that makes Human Resource professionals to teach or train staff quickly and asses them through various computer based testing methods. 

Data Storage and Retrieval
Human resource professionals deal with lots of paper works. They file it and keep them for a longer period and when required they find difficulties in find specific documents at a short time. Nowadays the technology plays a major role in saving their time and effort. The use of electronic imaging has made it possible for HR professionals and companies to store and retrieve files in an electronic format. Technology also allows human resources professionals to simply print the forms that are needed for employees. Printing on demand eliminates the need to dig through an endless number of files in the file cabinet to find what is needed.

Performance Management

Enhanced performance management is another byproduct of technological improvement. Human resources professionals can use computer technology to assess employee performance and also to get employee feedback to be used for the betterment of the organization. Various software programs make it possible for human resources professionals to examine employee performance using metrics to ensure that employees are meeting performance standards. Employees that don't measure up can be subjected to additional training or let go in favor a replacement who can come in and do the job.

Evolution of Human Resource Functions

During the early stages of the industrial revolution, employees who worked in factories had to undergo extremely harsh conditions where they were underpaid and had to work for long hours under very poor conditions of hygiene. These conditions outraged the employees who worked in such factories and they initiated labour riots. As a result of these riots, the government intervened to provide basic protection for labours or employees of such factories. This was done through the introduction of statutory regulations and all factory owners were required to comply with these statutory regulations. As a result, the factory owners were forced to set up a department to look into employee wages, employee welfare and to address other issues concerning labour. This led to the development of Personnel Management (Rotich, 2015).

The Personnel Management Approach

The usage of Personnel Management Approach was prominent throughout the early 20th century even though it remained administrative in nature. The Personnel Management Approach mainly concerned itself with,

• Maintaining employee record.
• Aligning compliance with stated policies.
• Implementing recruitment, training and wage administrative functions.
• Bringing welfare turned measures such as offering medical care and vaccinations.
• Trying to uplift productivity through wage increment and training, and implementation of standards.
• Deal with trade unions, trying to solve labour disputes through collective bargaining and other labour relations.
• Conducting performance appraisals.

The personnel management methods try to convince workers of business interests, and satisfy the interests of workers management, but also raise the awareness of corporate social responsibility (Tubey et al, 2015).

The Traditional Human Resource Approach 

The traditional methods of human resources developed in the late twentieth century with the development and introduction of new theories. In the HR approach, the organization's staff is seen as a valuable resource. Not like the Personnel Management Approach, the Traditional Human Resource Approach was not just a staff function but it was more and more involved with business processes. The following could be identified as the main dissimilarities between the Personnel Management Approach and the Traditional Human Resource Approach.

• Motivation was given to employees through free holidays, creating an active and social group within the workforce besides financial incentives.
• Training and Development was not only focused on providing job-related skills but also focused on changing attitudes and development of basic skills
• Wages and salary management have become more complicated with the introduction of performance-based payment plans (Tubey et al, 2015).

The Strategic Human Resource Approach

Strategic human resource approach supports personal goals and business goals, and rather than urge rules or dictate terms, acts as a facilitator and promotes a participative or friendly approach. The following could be identified as the main dissimilarities between the Traditional Human Resource Approach and the Strategic Human Resource Approach.

• Increased trust in short-term performance-based contracts rather than long-term employment.
• Direct association of compensation to the profitability of the enterprise and the employee's involvement towards such profitability.
• The new dimensions of training and development play a major role by encouraging and promoting innovation and creativity (Tubey et al, 2015).

Personnel Management vs Human Resource Management

Personnel Management can be considered as a tool and it concerns organizational rules and regulations and also ongoing issues. Whereas, Human Resource Management first looks into the long-lasting future and analyzes Human Resource needs. Further, Human Resource Management uses an integrated approach to achieve those needs with the congruence of corporate objectives (Tubey et al, 2015).

Reference:

Tubey, R., Rotich, K.J. and Kurgat, A. (2015).  History, Evolution and Development of Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Perspective. European Journal of Business and Management,7(9).

Rotich, K.J. (2015).  History, Evolution and Development Of Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Perspective. Global Journal of Human Resource Management,3(3).