Strategic HRM Essay At The University Of Melbourne.

Overview of Human Resource Management

Question:

Discuss about the New Political Economy of Urban Education.

Human resource management refers to the management of the human resources of an organization. The major motive of the human resource department is to maximize the overall performance of the employees of the concerned organization in accordance to the strategic objectives that have been set by the concerned employer. The human resource management focuses majorly on the various policies and the systems that have been employed by the concerned management of the organization and thereby looking into the management of the employees of the organization. The departments related to the management of the human resources of the organization is majorly concerned with the oversight on the recruitment, training and development, the performance appraisal and the rewards that are extended to the various employees of the concern. The human resource management also takes into account the various industrial relations and the changes in the organization in order to deal with the requirements that the organization might face on the matters that pertain to the governmental policies of the concerned country and the collective bargaining (Cascio 2018). The strategic human resource management refers to the strategies that tend to adapt to the various goals of the concerned organization and has been built upon the various organizational theories like the institutional theory and the contingency theories. The following report deals with the strategic human resource management of the higher education industry in Australia. The report majorly focuses on the esteemed University of Melbourne and proceeds to discuss the profile of the university, the missions and the visions of the concerned university. The report further proceeds to discuss the external environmental factors that are presented in the Jackson and Schuler (1995) model of human resource management. The report further proceeds to attempt an analysis of the various factors that has been affecting the external environment of the concerned university. The report further advances to discuss the various functions of the human resources. The report nears the conclusion with the impact of the various environmental factors on the functions of the human resource management of the University of Melbourne.

The University of Melbourne, commonly known as the Melbourne University, is one of the oldest universities of Australia. The university was founded in the year 1853 and is a public research university that is located in Melbourne, Australia. The 2017 rankings published by the Center for World University Rankings or the CWUR reveal the fact that the University of Melbourne has secured itself the 82^nd position in the list and is the second Australian university in the list the first being the University of Sydney at the 74^th  rank (Kimmorley 2018). The main campus of the esteemed university is located at Parkville, a suburban area in the northern area of the central business district of Melbourne (About.unimelb.edu.au 2018). The university is spread over a number of campuses and boasts of comprising of eleven different units of study. The main campus and the suburban areas of the university boast of having over 12 different colleges that offer various academic courses, cultural programs and the sport events in addition to providing the accommodation for the staff as well as the students of the highly esteemed university. The alumni association of the university consists of nine eminent Nobel laureates, the highest number that any Australian university might boast of having. A huge number of colleges have been affiliated to the esteemed university of Australia since the year 1872 (About.unimelb.edu.au 2018). The concerned university has been associated with a huge number of the research centers and institutes that are spread across the country. The Melbourne Business School, the Melbourne Law School and the Melbourne Medical School are among the highly regarded institutes that have been affiliated to the esteemed university (About.unimelb.edu.au 2018).

University of Melbourne: An Introduction

The mission of the esteemed University of Melbourne is to grow into a public-spirited institution through contributions to the areas of research, imparting education and providing engagement to the various communities that have been associated with the renowned university. The university aims to continue to provide guidance to the various departments and communities that have been associated with the concerned university. The motto statement of the university is taken from a Latin phrase “Postera Crescam Laude” meaning that the university aims to grow through the praises of the future generations to come. The motto of the university is taken from one of the Odes of the famous composer, Horace (About.unimelb.edu.au 2018). The vision statement of the esteemed university state that the university presents a commitment towards the creation of the international outcomes and fostering the brilliance, innovation and the inspiration in the researches that are undertaken by the various members who have been associated with the esteemed University of Melbourne. The university attempts to measure the success achieved by the university on the basis of the ten different goals that have been set by the university itself. The university aims to be known for the services that it offers to the nation, the recognition of the of the roles that are played by the university as a leading member of the higher education sector in the country (About.unimelb.edu.au 2018).

There are various models that are used for the better understanding of the concept of the strategic human resource management. One such model is the one that was suggested by Jackson and Schuler in the year 1995. The model majorly discussed the various environmental characteristics that affect the concerned organization on a macro-level. The macro-level components that are discussed within the model tend to have an influence on the various practices, philosophies and the policies of the human resources of the concerned organization. The Jackson and Schuler model of human resource management state that the key to the successful implementation of the various strategies depends on the behaviors of the employees of the concern. The propounders of this theory state that the employees need to align the various human resource practices and policies with the strategies that are followed by the human resource management strategies that are prevalent within the concerned organization in order to fulfill the role expectations of the employees who have been working within the organization (Bratton and Gold 2017). The various external factors that are discussed within the model are the cultural factors, the laws and regulations that pertain to the human resource management of the given organization, the industry relations that are maintained and experienced by the concerned organization, the political factors and the various factors that deal with the position of the concerned organization in the concerned market.  The interpretation of the information depends on the life cycle stage, the size, the strategies, the structure and the technology that is being followed by the concerned organization. The political factors that have been affecting the various business organizations refer to the various governmental policies and the administrative practices that might affect the various matters within the organization. The various political factors that the organizations need to abide by are the new regulatory shifts or the new legislations that might have an impact on the operations and the bottom line of the given organization. The organization might also be affected by the various legal factors that have been operational within the country or region. These legal factors might include the various taxes that might be imposed on the organization and the other regulatory factors that might be implemented on the products or the services that are marketed or delivered by the concerned organization. The legal factors that are implemented on the various organizations might also refer to the various factors that might relate to the import and the export of the services and the products that have been manufactured by the company. The sixth element of the afore-mentioned human resource management model is the factors pertaining to the political law of the land that might have an impact on the process of the production and the manufacturing of the products and the services of the concerned organization (Brewster and Hegewisch 2017). The propounders of this model of strategic human resource management state that the political law of the state might play a huge role in the development of the organization as well as affect the concerned organization in a varied number of ways.

Mission and Vision of the University

The chosen organization for this report is an educational institution that is based in the city of Melbourne in Australia. The report attempts to analyze the factors that might affect the external environmental factors of the esteemed higher education provider of the country. The major external factors that affect the esteemed University of Melbourne are the matters that are related to the educational laws of the country, the political factors that might affect the higher education industry of the country and the political laws of the country. The major educational law that affects the higher education industry of Australia is the Australian Education Act of 2013. This act was basically framed in order to put forth the financial support to the various educational institutions and thus produce a model that is based on the needs of the institution and maintains the consistency and the transparency in the given process ( Education.gov.au 2018). The Australian educational sector is majorly funded by the government of the country. The major political issues that affect the Australian education industry are the factors that pertain to the inequalities in the educational sectors of the country (Coleman 2015). There are reports that suggest the fact that there exists a huge discrimination among the students who have been pursuing their courses in the university on matters depending on the socio-economic groups to which the concerned students do belong. The various other matters that affect the University of Melbourne are the governmental regulations that might affect the international students of the esteemed university. These factors might include the various rules and regulations that deal with the visa and the immigration of the students from the foreign location. The political laws of the country that might affect the human resource of the esteemed university are the diversity in the workforce and the students who have been pursuing their courses at the esteemed university (Schuler and Jackson 2014). The human resource department of the university might need to keep an eye on the various matters that lead to the cuts in the fee structure and the remuneration that is provided to the teachers and the educators of the concern.  The Australian government has been very strict on the issues that pertain to the visas that have been granted to the concerned students. The various factors that are considered before the grant of the visas are mother tongue of the concerned student, the religious background of the student, the financial conditions of the concerned student and the criminal records of the student. The Australian government has also put forth major restrictions and control over the immigration of the students who do not belong to the Australian nationality. This tightening of the rules is due to the current political trend all over the world. Thus, there has been a drop in the number of the international students who have been seeking permission for the enrolment in the various esteemed universities of the country.

The human resource department of an organization tends to perform a huge number of functions in the organization. These functions might include the planning, resourcing and the retention of the employees of the organization. The human resource department of the organization is responsible for the resourcing the potential employees of the organization and the retention of the various employees of the concerned organization. The human resource management of the organization is also expected to deal with the recruitment and the selection process of the concerned organization. Recruitment refers to the various processes that include the captivation, the screening, and the selection of the potential and the qualified candidates for a particular job profile on the basis of the set criteria for a certain job (Alfes et al. 2013). The ulterior motive of the recruitment process is the attraction of the various potential qualified employees towards the concerned organization and in the process reject the under qualified candidates for the same concern (Marchington et al. 2013). The processes of the recruitment and selection are considered to be one of the major processes of the concern. This is due to the fact that these processes help in the reduction of the costs incurred due to the mistake in the recruitment of the employees who might display the incompetence, lack of motivation and the lack of the proper qualification in the matters relating to the criteria that needs to be fulfilled by the concerned company (Jackson Schuler and Jiang 2014). The concerned company might have to face a loss of the funds in cases where in the hired employee is unable to meet the concerned requirements of the company and thus needs to be fired from the company. The human resource department of the company might also need to deal with the matters pertaining to the training and the development of the various employees of the concerned organization (Chelladurai and Kerwin 2017). The employers of the concern are advised to provide the concerned employee with the various tools and the conditions that are necessary for the achievement of the success on the part of the employees of the concern (Marler and Fisher 2013). The training and the development of the various employees of the concerned organization refers to imparting an extensive amount of the orientation training of the employees in order to help them to acquaint themselves with the concerned organization. This might also help the concerned employee to follow the transition into the new work environments present in the company (Sekaran and Bougie 2016). The human resource department of the organization might also tend to provide the concerned employee with the various training on the leadership styles and the professional development techniques. The human resource department of the organization might also need to deal with the remuneration and the rewards that are necessary in order to motivate the staff of the organization (Lengnick-Hall, Lengnick-Hall and Rigsbee 2013). The staff of the organization might be motivated with the receipt of the remuneration and the rewards that might be awarded to them on the basis of the performance that they might put forth in the services that they extend to the concerned organization. The human resource department of the organization might also deal with the matters that pertain to the employee relations within the organization (Chuang, Jackson and Jiang 2016). The employee relations deal with the strengthening of the relations that exist among the employers and the employees of the organization through the process of the employee engagement, resolution of the conflicts at the workplace and the measurement of the job satisfaction of the concerned employees (Banerji 2013).

External Environmental Factors affecting the University

The external environmental factors of the esteemed University of Melbourne might affect the functions of the human resource department of the concern. The political factors might affect the various matters related to the human resource department of the concerned university. The staff of the esteemed university of Australia boasts of having a huge workforce of over 8000 educators and professional staff (About.unimelb.edu.au 2018). The human resource department of the university might be hugely affected by the various political factors that have been present within the organization as well as the country (Lipman 2013). The governmental laws that might affect the staff of the organization deal with the various matters that pertain to the protection of the equality of the employees of the organization before the law (Agarwal, Goel and Gupta 2014). There are laws that are active within the government within the organization that deal with the contractual factors that are evident within the University of Melbourne. The human resource department of the university might allow the employment of the various teachers and professional staff on the basis of the contracts that are agreed between the concerned management and the concerned employee. The legal factors that impact the various human resource management of the organization might constitute of the matters that pertain to the non-discrimination of the members of the workforce on the matters relating to the caste, race, religion, sex or the birthplace of the concerned candidate who has been selected for the purpose of employment in the concerned university (Arulrajah 2015). The legal factors also tend to look into the matters that pertain to the remuneration of the employees who have been serving the institution. The Australian economy does face an issue regarding the disparity in the remuneration that is received by the male and the female employees of the organization (Chitescu and Lixandru 2016). The human resource management of the organization should try and maintain a parity among the payments that it extends to the employees of the same (Budhwar and Debrah 2013). The human resource management of the university should always have a look into the matters that pertain to the humane conditions that should be present at the workplace. The human resource department of the organization might also need to arrange for the fact that the female employees of the organization do receive the maternity leaves that they might require during certain points of their career at the esteemed University of Melbourne.

Conclusion

Thus, from the above discussion it might safely be concluded that the strategic human resource management might be affected by the various matters that pertain to the external environment of the organization. The Jackson and Schuler (1995) model of strategic human resource management might be very useful for the analysis of the various matters that pertain to the external environment factors that have been affecting the concerned organization. The external factors that affect the esteemed University of Melbourne might be analyzed very well with the help of the Jackson and Schuler (1995) model of human resource management. The political and the legal factors that affect the esteemed University of Melbourne might be analyzed efficiently by the Jackson and Schuler (1995) model of strategic human resource management. The human resource department of the organization is observed to be responsible for the various matters that pertain to the staff of the organization as well as the organization itself. Thus, it might safely be concluded that the human resource department has a huge role to play in the overall functions of the higher education provider that has been discussed in the report, the highly esteemed University of Melbourne, situated in Australia.

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