Processes and Evaluation in Employment Relations Essay

Processes and Evaluation in Employment Relations - Essay Example A study of the Australian workplace scenario shows that strategic HRM are often faced with issues when trying to affect cultural changes as lack employee focus, leading to increased work related insecurities and a persistently decreasing job satisfaction (Leah, 1999). Culture, which fundamentally relates to the meaning an individual deciphers about the world around him and an understanding of the tools with which he must deal with this world, the primary objective of cultural changes within a workplace is associated with conscious and active processes aimed at developing capabilities that enable individuals to find new methods of working. It makes way for new processes, beliefs, thoughts, and measures that help to bring about organizational success. Owing to current large-scale globalisation, business strategies have become more intricate, making it necessary that workplace culture within an organisation becomes more complex in order to implement various modifications. This paper wil l study the role of HRM as regards affecting cultural changes within an organisation and will derive that implementing cultural changes is a complex and difficult process, and HR management has a limited role in affecting these changes. Human resource management can be defined collectively as comprising of â€Å"all concepts, strategies, policies and practices which organizations use to manage and develop the people who work for them† (Rudman, 2002, 3). The current function of HR is to manage long-term goals, and to take a wider and more balanced approach, instead of convening only on internal issues pertaining to human resource management. Modern HR managers emphasise more on future-based goals, long-term strategies, value adding leadership roles with focus on global integration, primarily in terms of economic and socio-cultural integration (Adler and Gundersen, 2008, pp.7-9). Fig 1: Human resource activities of a modern business firm (International HRM and organizational be havior learning guide, 2010). Ulrich (1996) delineated HRM roles and divided them into four categories based on their functions. These are Change Agent, Strategic Business Partner, Administration, and Employee Champions (Ulrich, 1996, pp. 19-20). Besides these, HR managers must be knowledgeable about the socio-cultural effects of globalization and be technologically oriented. In context of HR functions as a change agent and a strategic business partner, which encompass bringing in strategic cultural changes within an organization, these are associated with guiding and assisting in creating an overall business strategy and framing of HR plans and activities, keeping in mind the current globalization. If human resource strategies are incorrectly planned and implemented, an organization is likely to face failure within the global market that is highly competitive in nature (Belcourt and McBey, 2010). Here, the human resource managers help to formulate overall business strategies and se t goals for a firm, while bringing in suitable workplace cultural changes within an organization that would assist in achieving success in overall business outcome. The word ‘organisational culture,’ which became popular during the 1980s, is often considered