BU7039 Understanding and Managing People Assignment Sample

Introduction

Organizational behavior is constantly undergoing evolution. Various modern issues and events influence the dynamics of both organizational culture and behavior.

Societal changes have an impact on how organizations operate. While it is important to walk through the history of organizational behavior, understanding the contemporary issues ad their effects on organizational behavior holds equal importance.

The knowledge gained from such analysis will help to draw inference on how the new HR management should be and reveal secrets to high efficiency in this post-modern era. The paper presents the contemporary issues in the field of organizational behavior that are shaping the HR approaches globally and then evaluating the impact through the lens of contingency approach.

Contemporary Issues in The Field Of Organizational Behavior Shaping HR Approaches

As the industrial revolution surged worldwide, it was a normal scene for a manager in early 1990s clothing to see smoke billowing from smokestacks; quite comfortable with the evidence of production.

No one was bothered about their carbon footprint or even aware of the fact that their business practices were having a negative impact on the environment. If they did, would they have cared enough to adopt new practices? Would the customers and citizens have demanded sustainable practices if they were aware of the negative impacts of pollution in the environment? While these questions were inconsequential in that era, in today’s society, climate change and environmental issues are of the utmost importance.

Not a day goes by without hearing the modern buzz words carbon footprint, triple bottom line, sustainability or going green.  These terms and the ideals followed by them are becoming a common practice as customers are more aware of the environmental impact by individual companies which has shaped various HR policies in terms of leadership and legalities (Wang, et al., 2019).http://BU7039 Understanding and Managing People Assignment Sample

Outsourcing is a hot button topic now a days (Sharma, 2020).  It is the process by which external assets are hired to do jobs that are typically done by employed internal employees. It is very popular because it saves a lot of money, increases profit margin, improved technologies etc. (Agburu, et al., 2017; Smadi and Al-Jawazneh, 2016).http://BU7039 Understanding and Managing People Assignment Sample Without a shred of doubt outsourcing has a big impact on the organizational behavior within a company and human resources policies and practices have thus evolved to accommodate proficiency and harmony among all functional elements of productivity (Lee, et al., 2019). http://BU7039 Understanding and Managing People Assignment SampleDue to outsourcing more and more employees are scattered geographically and managing international teams is quite challenging often creating miscommunication or disconnect between managers and employees.

Now a days even the human resource department is also outsourced which creates challenges or issues such as indirect effect the marketing department as interaction becomes limited for lack of reliability and familiarity which leads to frustration and disconnect. Though companies control all outsourcing elements and processes, often that control is given up partially by employing third parties. Previously, changing company practices or procedure was strictly in house – now not so much; with outsourcing the modification process is much lengthier causing additional costs, time and resources.

Another common word that goes hand in hand with outsourcing is freelancing. Companies frequently hire freelancers for keeping a low count on full time employees and access diversity in background, expertise and experience.   Along with the benefits of using freelancers comes the challenge of maintaining uniformity for the human resource managers.

Keeping company standards or services and products consistent with the desired quality is difficult when too many cooks are running the kitchen.  Not to mention the constant turnover or staffing changes making the work environment challenging and difficult for maintaining effective employee relationships.

Today’s workforce has different generations as well as high diversity. Managing the workforce diversity is very challenging for the leadership. Laws and regulations have also been developed by governments that are mandatory for every company to adopt.

The human resource department is responsible for adhering to all the regulations regarding the workforce; failure to do so will result in legal consequences among many others. Thus, the most common contemporary issues with organizational behavior are posed by laws and regulations, leadership, sustainability and workforce diversity which are challenges faced by the human resource department. These factors determine the various strategies of human resource management and their implementation.

Contingency Approach and Popular Models

Traits and behavior impact organizational success through management and leadership. When situations are factored in, it is a contingency approach. Circumstances define in which way that company culture has to be steered in order to gain the highest efficiency.

The study of situational influence has led to the development of various models which explain the influence of organizational culture in human resource management practices. All these models suggest human resource management approved by isolating the various key situational variables.

Taylorism is at the peak of scientific management approach for maximum productivity and according to the model systematic exploration of the work is impertinent to figure out the best approach.

Taylor established four principles which follows as “the true science representing the best management, scientific selection of workers, scientific training and development of workers and friendly collaboration between managers and workers” (Huihui, 2018). http://BU7039 Understanding and Managing People Assignment SampleTaylorism continues to develop and maintains a very strong connection with management even in this 21st century.

Another model, the contingency theory argues that management or leadership has no best approach (Banalieva & Sarathy, 2011). http://BU7039 Understanding and Managing People Assignment SampleFiedler (1986) proposed in relation to leadership a model that brought together the relationships between the concept of leadership style and that of the “favorableness of the situation.” They suggested that leaders with different traits were effective in different situations. The three determinants in the model as they proposed are – the leader-member relationship, degree of task structure and the leader’s position.

The implications made by contingency theory when it comes to internationalized world comprises of leadership and influence on the organization. The contingency theory focuses on the existing relationship between environment and management while behavioral management theory focuses on the people within the organization. Systems theory differs from behavioral management theory in that it considers the whole internal and external environment for the fir as opposed to only focusing on the individuals (Huihui, 2018).http://BU7039 Understanding and Managing People Assignment Sample It has a close relation to the globalized world and also provides the theoretical roots to diversity management.

There are many other models that explain organizational behavior and HR management; all they do is help to make us understand the various elements of organizational success. Equipped with the understanding and knowledge a company can design its HR practices best suited to its particular goals and needs.

Conclusion

Contemporary business environment has brought with it several changes and challenges that are affecting the field of management including that of – Human Resource Management, which is one of the most relevant areas of management.

The most frequently mentioned challenges of modern HRM as identified in this paper are: globalization, economic and legal environment, workforce diversity resulting from both globalization and demographic change, technological development, changes in educational background of employees and in their expectations regarding working conditions (Stankiewicz, 2015). http://BU7039 Understanding and Managing People Assignment Sample

All these factors shape the HR management policies which help neutralize the various issues erupting from post modern changes and pave the way to organizational success.

References

Agburu, J., Anza, N., & Iyortsuun, A. (2017). Effect of outsourcing strategies on the performance of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). Journal Of Global Entrepreneurship Research, 7(1). doi: 10.1186/s40497-017-0084-0

Banalieva, E. R. & Sarathy. R. (2011). A Contingency Theory of Internationalization. Management International Review, 51, 593-634.

Fiedler, F.E. (1986). The Contribution of Cognitive Resources and Leader Behavior to Organizational Performance, Journal of Applies Psychology,16, 6, 532-548. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1986.tb01157.x.

Huihui, T. (2018). The Implications of Taylorism, Contingency Theory, Behavioral Management Theory and Systems Theory on Organization Management in the Globalization Era: A Comparative and Critical Review: , 4th International Conference on Education & Training, Management and Humanities Science, ETMHS: Wuhan, China.

Lee, G., Lee, S., Malatesta, D., & Fernandez, S. (2019). Outsourcing and Organizational Performance: The Employee Perspective. The American Review Of Public Administration, 49(8), 973-986. doi: 10.1177/0275074019855469

Sharma, S. (2020). How Outsourcing Practices Are Changing in 2020: an Industry Insight. Retrieved 28 April 2021, from https://www.infoq.com/articles/outsource-practices-change-2020/

Stankiewicz, K. (2015). Contemporary Issues and Challenges in Human Resource Management. Gdańsk University of Technology Faculty of Management and Economic.

Wang, Y., Kim, S., Rafferty, A., & Sanders, K. (2019). Employee perceptions of HR practices: A critical review and future directions. The International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 31(1), 128-173. doi: 10.1080/09585192.2019.1674360