Challenges Of Globalisation And Changes In Human Resources Planning

Changes brought by technology and its implications for human resources planning

Discuss about the challenges that are posed by globalisation and the changes that should be brought into practice in the arena of human resources planning.

Human Resource Planning is primarily aimed at fulfilling objectives in relation to manpower requirement. It helps in mobilizing recruited resources for the production of an organization. Human resource planning aims to link the business strategy with that of the operations of an organisation. It ensures that the activities of the organization are carried out in a smooth manner and it recruits people so that the objectives of the organization can be realized. It acts as a tool that can help in assuring future availability in relation to manpower in order to successfully carry out the activities of the organization (Cummings & Worley, 2014).  Human Resource Planning is of crucial importance as it can help in dealing with the external environment factors. It recruits capable and talented personnel and recruits the right people who can successfully contribute for the betterment of the organization. Human resource planning is the process that assures that qualified persons are recruited in the organization who can meet the needs of enterprise and provide satisfaction to individuals (Sparrow, Brewster & Chung, 2016).  This essay discusses the challenges in relation to labour demand and supply and how scenario planning can help the human resources to deal with the external changes effectively in relation to Australian business.

Large-scale technological developments are taking place on account of globalisation and it reduces the demand of unskilled labour. This is one of the major threats that is posed due to globalisation. Direct foreign investment only serves the highly skilled workers and do not bother about cheap worker. Traditional nature in relation to work has undergone a vast change on account of advances made in the field of technology (Sparrow, Brewster & Chung, 2016).  It has created scope for innovative occupations that favour those who are highly specialized. There is dearth of new job openings and deterioration in relation to real wage rate as a result of globalization in the case of developing economies. The developing economies could not adapt with the new technologies and as a consequence they were struggling owing to globalisation (Kavanagh, & Johnson, 2017). The labour clause being implemented will have negative implications on economic growth in developing countries within which child labour exists. Globalization will cause the manufacturing-producing countries to reap the benefit of trade liberalization and a small share will go to the agricultural-producing countries. Policy in relation to structural adjustment like that of privatization signifies that unemployment will increase in Australia because privatization is generally accompanied by reduction in relation to demand of labour (Brotchie et al., 2017). 

Demographic Changes and its effect on Human Resources Planning

Retirement of the employee of an organization has consequences for the organization. Retirement makes way for a young person to step into the organization when an old employee steps down from the organization. Experience helps in enriching the knowledge and skill sets of a person and the retirement of an old employee thus poses a challenge for the growth and reputation of an organization. Small number of retirement can have a massive influence on the organization and produces adverse results for the organization on account of loss of knowledge along with decline of durability in relation to organizational value (Hakansson, 2015).  An area that is crucial for the organization is in relation to loss of gained knowledge that happens when an employee retires. The role of human resources planning is to find out how the strengthen the process of knowledge transfer from those employees who are preparing to retire to that of the younger employees. The knowledge transfer can be ensured by the appreciation of the knowledge of employees who are approaching the retirement age. A climate of mutual respect along with trust should be built among the parties and organizational conditions should be created by the human resource planning so that it can help the employees within the organization to learn and grow (Tate et al., 2014).  Another challenge in relation to human resources planning in Australia is in relation to creating an incentive system that enables the employees of older age to stay motivated within the organization. The techniques that are used for motivating the elder people differ from that of the young employees within an organization. The human resource planning often does not take cognizance of the fact that needs and expectations of the elder employees undergo change with the passage of time (Amer, Daim & Jetter, 2013).  New tools should be developed by the human resource management of Australia that would be appropriate for the current feature of the employees.

A replacement chart contains the list of all critical job roles within a company and the employees who are positioned in various roles and their competency that can prove to be useful in case of future succession planning. The employees who have the relevant skill sets along with knowledge for the particular position are tagged and in this particular method the potential replacement are found in the organization (Wolf & Floyd, 2017).  The details of all the potential candidates along with that of their age, skills and experience can be found in the replacement chart. A competitive analysis is carried out in regard to the experience and skill set of the employees and the candidates who can best serve the particular position are then selected. An organization can thus make use of succession planning that can help in the identification of internal KSAs (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities). Success at one level within the organization chart does not necessarily mean success at the higher levels. The decisions related to employee selection should be based on who can perform the best job. In this age of globalisation where there is so much of competition internal replacement chart proves to be ineffective in the arena of selection of the best candidate (Crettenden et al., 2014).  The job positions at the higher level are more responsible ones and they are qualitatively different from those at the lower level. People should be selected and developed on the basis of their qualitative differences. In the scenario of succession planning, people tend to get promoted till they reach a level where they cannot meet the job challenges. The modern age of globalisation is extremely competitive and recruiting people to positions who do not have the skill set and competence to justify their position and deliver efficient performance can ruin the reputation of the organization by curtailing the growth of the company (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). 

Succession Planning in Human Resources

Human resource planning is concerned with the application of tools that can have a positive impact on the way of life of the organizational workers. Scenario planning can act as an effective tool that helps in considering plausible futures and embrace different point of view regarding the future that can prove to be of immense benefit for human resources planning in an organization. They conceive of how the future can look like and this can be used as a strategic tool for the progress of the organization. Scenario planning can help the organizations in Australia to leverage its human resources development forces that can prove to be useful for shaping the business of the organization. The scenarios can prove to be useful for the assessment of the future of the company and can render useful service in the arena of human resources planning (Cummings & Worley, 2014).  Scenario Planning can act as a practical alternative to that of strategic planning as it can help in avoiding the pitfalls in relation to prediction. Scenario planning can help in challenging the perception of member of organization by the help of exploration of stories that covers a wide gamut of potential outcomes. Scenario planning is the gauging of alternative future environment within which decisions regarding future can be played out in Australian business in order to change the process of current thinking that can help in improving the decision making of the organisation.

Scenario Planning is helpful in creating multiple, divergent stories regarding the future. The scenarios should be practical based and based on the real-world context. It involves “outside-in-thinking” and the human resources department should look at the external factor that has an influence on the market and resources of the organization. Homogeneous groups can prove to be biased and hence ineffective for human resources planning (Kavanagh, & Johnson, 2017). The human resources planning should make note of diverse voices so that the organization can make planning on its basis and grow. The regulatory labour framework should be considered while carrying out the human resources planning. Many people nowadays take on jobs where they behave like an independent contractor as compared to that of the employee. Outsourcing challenges the traditional notions in relation to employment and this result in unexpected determining of the plans as in such kind of a case the false assumptions gets revealed rather late (Crettenden et al., 2014).  

Scenario Planning in Human Resources

Globalisation particularly free movement in relation to the goods is a major trend in the world however its path is often erratic. Technology has greatly changed the nature of work and it has transformed the way business operates. It will create divisions between that of information rich and that of information poor. The organizations function within a dynamic market and organizations should take note of the external factors that can help in the growth of the organization (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). Scenario Planning will provide the organisation with sufficient time so that they can deduce how they can be successful in case of different scenarios. Directors should consider the possibilities, risks along with threats in case of each scenario that can make the company well-equipped regarding how to deal with unforeseen circumstances. An organization will thus be able to brainstorm vision for the future and investigate trends. An evaluation of the scenarios will help the company in choosing the right policy and they would be able to make recommendations on the basis of it. An organization with the help of succession planning will be able to think about their expansion policy within next five years.

Conclusion:

Proper human resources planning can help in dealing with the external environment factors of the Australian organizations. Globalisation has brought in technological developments that reduce demand of unskilled labour and privatization will lead to unemployment because privatization points forward to reduction of need for labour. It thus poses a threat to the human resources planning and recruitment should be careful so that it is able to serve the vision of the organization. Knowledge transfer from the employees who are on the verge of retiring to that of younger employees can help in building a climate of mutual trust and bolster the organization. Scenario Planning takes cognizance of the plausible futures and implement suitable policies that helps in maximising the growth of the organization.

References:

Amer, M., Daim, T. U., & Jetter, A. (2013). A review of scenario planning. Futures, 46, 23-40.

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

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Crettenden, I. F., McCarty, M. V., Fenech, B. J., Heywood, T., Taitz, M. C., & Tudman, S. (2014). How evidence-based workforce planning in Australia is informing policy development in the retention and distribution of the health workforce. Human Resources for Health, 12, 7.

Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2014). Organization development and change. Cengage learning.

Hakansson, H. (Ed.). (2015). Industrial Technological Development (Routledge Revivals): A Network Approach. Routledge.

Kavanagh, M. J., & Johnson, R. D. (Eds.). (2017). Human resource information systems: Basics, applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.

Sparrow, P., Brewster, C., & Chung, C. (2016). Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.

Tate, W. L., Ellram, L. M., Schoenherr, T., & Petersen, K. J. (2014). Global competitive conditions driving the manufacturing location decision. Business Horizons, 57(3), 381-390.

Wolf, C., & Floyd, S. W. (2017). Strategic planning research: Toward a theory-driven agenda. Journal of Management, 43(6), 1754-1788.