The world of work: Strategy and HRM

    "Organizational Justice" refer to the extent to which employees see workplace procedure, interactions and outcome to be fair within the workplace. This is said to influence attitudes and behavior of employees which in turn impact outcomes such as, such innovation, increased learning behavior, organizational trust, ethical behavior, organizational commitment and work performance. These will in turn have a negative effect on the execution of strategy within the organization by its employees. Types of Organizational justice There are 4 types of perceived fairness within organizational settings: Distributive justice – this is the perception of the fairness of decision outcomes, such as promotion opportunities, pay, positive performance appraisals Procedural justice – this is the perception of fairness within the processes that lead to outcomes, for example performance calibration or procedures for allocating promotional opportunities Interpersonal justice – this is the ...

          Employee Relations Employee relations (ER) is the term that defines the relationship between employers and employees. ER focuses both on individual and collective relationships in the workplace with an increasing emphasis on the relationship between managers and their team members. ‘Employee relations’ covers the contractual, practical, as well as the physical and emotional dimensions of the employee-employer relationship. (Verlinden, 2023) Policies and procedures of a company that establish transparency and fairness for employees plays a vital role in setting the culture that drive the maintenance of such relations. Nestle, further employs corporate labor priorities, compliance, collective dialog, collective negotiations and external social dialogues in their ER policy. They state that this helps them ensure that the policy is practiced in the real sense and equally at all business locations across the world. It also encourages liaison with re...

  Performance management is a set of processes and systems aimed at developing employees, so they perform their job to the best of their ability. The goal is to help employees build on skills that enable them to perform better in their roles, reach their potential, and boost their success while also accomplishing the strategic goals of the organization. The Performance management process involves: Establishing clear expectations Setting individual objectives and goals that align with team and organizational goals Providing ongoing feedback Evaluating results Career decisions, including promotions, bonuses, and dismissals, are linked to the performance management process. (Vulpen, 2023)   Why is performance management important? AIHR lists down five reasons as to why performance management is so important for the organization. Future-proofing your workforce’s skills Establishing a continuous line of communication with employees and monitoring their skills,...

    In this article we plan to investigate the what and the why of onboarding. We will also look at how critical this process is and the changes this process is undergoing in order to support the business strategy. Companies expend a massive amount of time and effort in designing jobs to support the business, filtering candidates that match those requirements and then on evaluating them in order to ensure that the best talent is taken into the company to execute business strategy. Therefore, it is essential that the talent thus recruited is integrated into the company in a successful manner. Onboarding thus is the processes in which new hires are integrated into the organization. It includes activities that allow new employees to complete an initial new-hire orientation process, as well as learn about the organization and its structure, culture, vision, mission and values. (Shrm, 2023) The advent of the COVID-19 crisis fast tracked the changes to how companies functioned...

  Henry Ford, in 1908 rolled out the first vehicle model through Ford Motor Company. Due to the overwhelming demand he introduced mass production methods producing a standard product in larger numbers. The buyer had to buy what was offered, But today, customer preference is what drives the evolution of the motor industry. A customer can make or break a company. What relevance does this have for Human Resources? For Human Resource professionals, employees are the customers and candidates are the potential customers. Human Resources can no longer rely on the standard set of practices to attract and retain talent. Companies operate in volatile, ambiguous, uncertain and complex (VUCA) environment. This requires them to be able to adapt faster and react faster to changes. The Human resource function should be able to support the company's strategies at that speed. This will require HR to focus on getting the right person, at the right time, for the right role a...

In my last blog post we referred a McKinsey article on "The Future of Work" which identified three changes: Remote work, E-Commerce and Digital Technologies.  In this post, I wanted to briefly discuss how the pandemic accelerated changes in the Human Resources function of organizations. These points were gathered post-discussion with the HR professionals of my organization which belongs to the consumer durable sector. 1. Remote Operations:  The company has looked at remote work as a solution to ensuring safety of workers during the pandemic. This has led to changes in the way human resources professionals manage their workforce, which include in areas such as hiring and onboarding employees, providing training and development opportunities, managing employee performance and employee engagement efforts, which have all considered integrating virtual components. 2. More focus on Employee Well-being: The pandemic was able to emphasize the importance of employee well...

  The business landscape has been on a continuous cycle of change commencing from the first Industrial Revolution where the economy changed from a agrarian and handicraft based economy to that of a industry and machine manufacturing economy powered by coal.  According to sciencedirect.com the focus is now shifting the 4th Industrial Revolution powered by internet and renewable energy to a 5th Industrial Revolution elaborated by them as one which encompasses the notion of harmonious human–machine collaborations, with a specific focus on the well-being of the multiple stakeholders (i.e., society, companies, employees, customers). Though these transition through history has been gradual, the recent COVID pandemic took the entire world hostage, pushed businesses towards the 5th revolution in an unanticipated and accelerated pace.  The McKinsey article written on 23rd January 2023 on the topic " What is the future of work?" identifies three trends accelerated that were by t...