Contemporary HRM Practices Week 5 Assgn2PLopez

           This assignment has as its focus, an unfamiliar Human Resource Management Practice (HRMP).  Not that the HRMP is foreign or totally strange, expect maybe to me, however, my task is to research, learn and report about a contemporary trend that is paving a new road and giving HR professionals tools to use when breaking from the traditional and comfortable methods used when managing HRMP.

           Cantrell and Foster (2006) stated that HR must look for ways to manage their workforce and "[i]nstead of managing a workforce as a single homogeneous entity” that the workforce should be viewed as a “…workforce of one” (p. 1).   The word that Cantrell and Foster use quite frequently to describe the workforce of one, is the “talent multiplier”, or recognizing employees as individuals, which is a way to “…empower[]” employees because the traditional way of management, or the “…one-size-fits-all management practices do not suit the realities of today’s organizations” (p. 2).

          Talent multipliers are the opposite of traditional approaches where management controls from the top down.  Rather, a contemporary approach embraces employee value, respecting individually, talent, encourages opinions and fully utilizes an employee's potential.  This is not a chaotic environment where employees run free from the establishment, but this environment teaches, trains and nurtures talented employees because the organization knows employee value.  

 

           In addition, managers are encouraged to “…harness the natural strengths of their employees by catering to individual attributes” (Cantrell and Foster, 2006, p. 3).  In fact, the United States Army is examining its traditional employee management practices by   advancing technology that links those in charge with his or her solders, giving and sharing information and new capabilities between forces.  Osborn (2011) stated that traditional tactics need to change, and these changes come from testing and feedback on how a program is working, what its weaknesses are and overall soldier feedback on the performance of what is being tested.  This is total shift from blind obedience, where opinions are not encouraged or asked for, to seeing service personnel as having valuable input into the mission and strategy. The same can be said for HRMP. 

 

          Whether it is a new way to measure performance, expand globally or when redesigning a workflow, the communication that the United States Army is utilizing can be used by private organizations as well and is really a good idea.  Managers partner with their employees and also with each other.  The days of do as you’re told and just follow the rules, may work for some managers, and is useful in select situations, however, best practices would suggest that it is an engaged partnership that will symbolically lead the team into battle or give the organization, the competitive edge is the way to encourage best practices.

 

References

Cantrell, S., & Foster, N. (2006, October). Workforce of one: A new approach to human capital management. Accenture. Retrieved from http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-workforce-of-one-new-approach-human-capital

 

Osborn, K. (2011, August 3). [Web log message]. Retrieved from:
           http://asc.army.mil/web/building-the-army-network-%E2%80%98a-           revolutionary-new-approach%E2%80%99

 

 

 

 

 

Unit 3

                                   Ethical Concerns in Human Resource Management

Pauline R. Lopez

Walden University

 

Ethical Concerns in Human Resource Management

 

Most if not all work environments have dissatisfied employees.  Employees that have ideas for change, but those ideas are not met with consideration.  Abraham Lincoln stated that “[y]ou can [please] some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never [please] all of the people all of the time.” (Monqur, 2012).  Of course, President Lincoln originally used this quote to address fooling people instead of pleasing people, however, for this assignment, the word has been changed to pleasing people, but specifically, how to manage change, in an ethical manner, in an environment that is resistant to changing the status quo. 

Human Resource (HR) as a profession has been evolving into an organization partner, but as professionals, they will have to confront the fear of change, not only in themselves, but also the fear or resistance of their stakeholders, who are their employers and herein rests the dilemma.  How does HR remain true to its values while asserting its strategic presence, without fear of job loss, verses the fine line that can occur between connecting with an organization and alienating the stakeholders that employee them. 

Patrick (2001) stated that for change to occur, there must be stakeholder and employee “…cooperation, collaboration, and co ownership of others” (p. 1).  Change is a combined effort that creates an environment that is open to best practices in creative thinking and communication. Resistance to change is manifested in those who will not agree on a plan for change, yet have no alternatives, or those that cannot visualize the change and so discredit it.

The dilemma between adding value and confronting the resistance discussed above can cause ethical concerns for HR professionals especially with high unemployment rates and corporate downsizing.  Fear of being disconnected, people pleasing or getting so frustrated with stakeholder and employee resistance, is a sure way not to add value.  HR professionals cannot work for change if they are not educated and trained to know all the factors that occur with change, such as how to meet resistance and the fear that comes with change.  Last, without a strategy to understand resistance, HR will not achieve its goals and will try and please all of the people all of the time and this will create an ethical dilemma that will add to the resistance itself.  This translates to becoming part of the problem, and not a partner in the solution.           

References

Monqur, M. (2012). Abraham Lincoln. The Quotation Page. Retrieved from: http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/27074

Patrick, F. (2001). Taking advantage of resistance to change (and the TOC thinking processes) to improve improvements. Retrieved from http://www.focusedperformance.com/articles/resistance

Walden Strategic HRM

Hi Dr. Bill and Class: 

We are on the road to Thanksgiving. This year has gone by so quickly that I am amazed that we are almost at the end of the year. 
I welcome this class in Strategic HRM and look forward to the weeks ahead.   Pauline Lopez aka Paulina Beautovia.