10 Challenges to Human Resource Management (HRM) | Human Resource Management

10 Challenges to Human Resource Management (HRM)!

Challenges refers to that element which influences activities. Human resource management is a people dimension management and concerned with the management of human energies and competences. The major challenges to human human resource management are as follows:

 1. Globalization 

It refers to the internationalization of activities. It promotes free flow of resources, capital, technology, investment from one country to another country. It intensifies global competition and downsize and right size the structure. Due to globalization managers have to work in different countries with different culture and people. There is problem for manager to work with people from different culture and manage the effect of downsizing and right sizing organization. The common challenge is to think globally and act locally.

 2. Workforce diversity 

Diversity refers to heterogeneity or differences. Workforce diversity is concerned with employee, workers or human resources with different characteristics or background such as age, gender, religion, background, qualifications, caste etc. Such differences creates different expectations of employees. The tendency of human resources or people is to impose one expectation or interest by neglecting others. It will create problem in an organization. If their expectations are managed that will increase productivity but if they failed to manage that will be counter productive. Therefore the main challenges to human resource management is how to maintain unity among diversity.

 3. Technology advancement 

It refers to the combination of equipment knowledge by which inputs are converted into output. It provides a lot of advantage to the organization such as increases quality, reduces cost and save time. It is a important based for competitive advantage. However, there is a radical changes on technology which makes existing knowledge, skill outdated. The challenges of human resources management and manager is to develop human resources who can work with new technology.

 4. Employee empowerment 

 It refers to pushing down decision making power to the lower level employees. It is concerned with delegation of authority to subordinate and making them competence to accomplish organization job. In modern management that different team such as quality circle, self manage teams, cross functional team, etc are develop which represent the empowerment to employees. However, the challenge to the management is that there is possibility misuse of delegate power. Further, manager find difficult to get release from power once they hold it.

 5. Large organization

Modern organizations are becoming global organizations and they are extending their activities to different countries of the world. They have to use different materials, information, skills and competences work forces, advance technology to complete with other global organizations. They required advance knowledge and competences where traditional management cannot meet the requirements of global organizations. Therefore the increase in the size of the organization makes manager more complex to manage them.

 6. Contingent workforces

Contingent workforces are temporary workforces who are working in the organizations. Every organizations deploys temporary workforces with equal or more skill or knowledge than permanent workforces. However these workforces are less attached and satisfied to the organization despite their better contributions due to unfair treatment of organization and management. The contingent employees shows low morale in the organization that negatively influence to the productivity. The challenge to the managers is to improve morale.

 7. Changing legal trends

Legal trends refers to the legal forces or surrounds the legal forces include set of rules, regulations, laws, policies etc of a country that determines what an organization can do or cannot do. The legal trends are changing rapidly in terms of registration of company, minimum wage system, termination of workforces, mergers and acquisitions of organizations, etc. The major challenge to the modern managers is work with dynamic legal provisions and adjust their organization in changing legal scenarios.

 8. Ethical issues 

Ethics refers to the moral principles that determines right and wrong, good or bad. Ethical behavior of the manager and human resources are the important sources for organization success. However, there is some confusion in an organization about what types of behavior is ethical and unethical because some time an unethical behavior will ethical issue in other situation. So, the major ethical issue in the organization is how the organization treats their employees, how their employees behave in an organization and how the organization and employees treats external economical  agent or stakeholders.

 9. Change management 

Change refers to making something different. Change is the natural process and fact of human and organizations life. It is a inevitable part of organizations life. It is not a matter of interest but a matter of compulsion. No one can overcome the change. The effective change brings prosperity in the organization by reducing cost improving quality and facilities. However, there is a tendency of individual resist the change because of different factor that will affect the progress of organization. The challenge of human resource manager is to manage change by satisfying conflicting interest of human resources and whole organization.

 10. Work life balance 

In an organizations individual or human resources are two types of life's such as professional life and home life. Modern organization are viewing themselves as global organization and they are running 24 hours. They want to keep human resources for the long time in an organization. However, due to the advancement of information technology human resources want to accomplish their task by shifting at home, walking in the road or travelling in the bus. Both husband and wife are busy in an organization. So, they want flexible work schedule with high degree of autonomy. If the managers are fail to fulfill such interest of human resources, they cannot retain them in the organization.

Besides these above mention issue management of knowledge, outsourcing of resources, nature of the work to be performed etc are the important challenges for human resource managers.