Executive Summary
This paper seeks to expound the changes that take place in an organization undergoing restructuring in its recruitment process and what the human resource manager ought to do pertaining the plans or policies that should be set in place to facilitate change and innovation.
These two aspects have become important to consider in any organization due to the dynamic nature of the way organizations should operate to ensure that they are up to the set standards set for business. It is also important to formulate the strategic plans that will enable the organization to adopt any kind of beneficial innovation that has come up, which might improve the system of carrying out business operations.
All these are necessary to make a business to be in position to perform well in the market. The paper also looks at, the reason why the human resource manager should gather all the relevant advice concerning the way he or she should make arrangements that can accelerate the course of action of managing change and making innovative developments.
Introduction
Business organizations are working hard to keep up with the pace that change and innovation is happening to many businesses due to the increased demand from customers and the general stakeholders. This has therefore made most of the business to set plans on how they are going to implement changes and become innovative in the manner they perform their operations to remain competitive in the stiff market.
As much as the business are aimed at restructuring some of their operations, there is also a need for them to rethink on finding ways and means on how to fix or get opportunities for those employees affected by such changes. Every human resource manager has an obligation of doing in-depth research of the possible and applicable plans and policies that should be incorporated in the business that can speed up the level at which amendments and innovation can happen in the organization for its betterment.
There a number of strategic arrangements that a human resource manager can apply in the position or department he/she is mandated to handle to bring many changes in a business. A human resource manager has the jurisdiction of seeing to it that the personnel working in an organization are recruited professionally and corresponding to the duties they are supposed to handle, and once they are employed they work competently hence delivering quality outcome.
This paper will comprehensively discuss the relevant plans and policies that a HRM can formulate to ensure change and innovation processes happen effectively, and at the same time maintaining employment opportunities for those affected by the changes in within the organizations.
Change Management
Organizations have so many changes that they need to identify and implement to ensure that they remain competent and within the required stipulations. These changes do not only involve the petty issues that crop up, which call for amendment, but also involves complex matters that concern the welfare of the business and its environment.
Change in an organization does not just happen without a good reason; there are many things that happen, which trigger the need to implement reforms. Usually, organizational change and management is a strategic plan formulated to help the organization to meet certain targets (Bohlander and Snell 2009).
Sometimes, a change occurs due to challenges or forces from within or outside the business, which make it necessary for the organization to adjust to be at a better position to face the challenges, or else tackle the influences in the best way possible with an aim of maintaining the position of the business.
However, some of the employees are compelled to down their tools of work and walk home due to the changes that may occur within the business. As mentioned, there is a need for a business to maintain its reputation and rapport within its environment and this is by hatching out ways that ought to be of great help to those affected by the changes.
Alternatively, Tuner (2003) recommends that restructuring within the business should not find others unemployed, but rather the HRM should have plans and policies concerning such changes.
Need for Restructuring/Changes
Changes on Staffing
This important area of HRM calls for regular checks to identify any relevant amendments to ensure that the human resource of the organization is up to the required standards. Employees play important role in business because they are the people who perform all the duties that make business be at the right front to achieve its goals.
Without sufficient staffing, a company would not manage to fulfill all the needs of its customers or clients depending on the nature of the business. Likewise, staffs are not staffs if they do not qualify to competently perform their duties and work within the business ethics and codes of conducts (Briscoe and Claus 2008).
Any discrepancy in this area cause gross effects to the business and therefore calls for the human resource manager to act promptly to any thing that unfolds that requires change to save the business from any eventuality. For instance, if a certain employee fails to deliver quality work maybe due to incompetence or laxity, then such a person should face punishment or dismissal from the organization.
Another reason that might trigger the need for reforms in the staffing is the introduction of a new technology or method of doing a certain task, which requires specialized skills (Chelladurai 2006). This will definitely dictate the human resource manager to get a new employee who will be able to do that job.
Additionally, the need to add more employees to increase the workload prompts change in the human resource department. An organization can also arrange for training and orientation programs for new employees to give then an opportunity to learn how to do their duties well.
It is therefore important for an organization to implement a method of identifying all the necessary changes that are required in an organization, and set strategic plans to ensure that change management in this sector happens smoothly without leaving any niche covered (Fahey and Randall 2001).
Besides looking on the ways to adjust employees to benefit the business, the employer should also consider the welfare of the staff; hence, it is essential for the human resource manager to make every reform that touches on the betterment of the staffs’ welfare. Employees cannot work well if there are issues that make them to have a hard time as they work. Thus, addressing such issues and making necessary changes immediately is important (Peter-J and Ultz 2008).
Employees face various challenges such as low salary, poor working conditions, too much workload, harassment, and long working hours besides losing their jobs due to the occurrence of the changes. It is therefore important for an employee to balance changes concerning the organization’s welfare with the well-being of the staff. Dana (2006) warns that failure to do this might make the business not to run smoothly since there will be element of the firm that has not been taken care of.
A manager should perform identification of change and implementation in professional way to ensure that the right thing is happening, and at the same time set out the most effective methods of managing the changes. Losing employees that are loyal and vital to the business might be disastrous to the whole operations within the business and thus the HRM should device ways possible to maintain them within the operation.
Rotational staffing is important is such cases because there is high chances of increased productivity (Terrance et al. 2009).
Changes on Goods and Services
Another important aspect that an organization should put into consideration is the changes on that required on its products. The kind of products that a company produces or sells to people determine the way the business will survive in the market because this is what represents an organization in the market.
It is therefore important for the organization or the person in charge of production to identify any change required on the products depending on how they do in the market (Self, Armenakis, and Schraeder 2007). If products have a particular defect that makes them not to compete well with the similar commodities of rival companies, then the organization has to search for ways to make sure that the products go through all the necessary adjustments and improvements to set them at a better position to compete with other products.
It is also essential for a company to diversify the variants of a commodity or the kind of services it offers to meet the needs of vast population of customers. Changes on products should be checked on regular basis to ensure that all the necessary updates are done hence making the product remain competitive in the market (Winch 1994).
Changes on the Production Process
This is the most profound effect that may affect the well-being of the employees within the business set up. Restructuring of the business may therefore go in tandem with the changes in the production process used by the business.
Production process involves the machinery used in production, the techniques applied, and the raw materials or resources needed to facilitate the production of goods and services (Buzzel and Farris 1977). All aspects comprised in the production process need continuous adjustment to ensure that the organization runs its operations smoothly and in cost effective manner.
For instance, an organization should incorporate every new technology that comes into the production process to ensure that the business operates in a manner that is efficient (Schmalensee 1988). Likewise, a company should be innovative as far as its production methods are concerned to enhance the competitiveness of the business.
An organization should get rid of any machine or procedures that do not give quality outcome and replace them with those that are efficient and effective. It is also important for an organization to evaluate on the type of raw materials and other requirements for production by looking at the cost and the quality and maybe the proximity and availability.
Page et al. (2008) recommend that evaluation should dictate any crucial changes that require implementation to ensure that the business runs well. The production manager should consistently be checking on any necessary adjustments that can possibly make a business remain profitable at all times.
Change of Infrastructure and facilities
It is surprising that some organizations still have old buildings that were constructed long time ago when the organization was established. Such buildings are old and worn out and can even be dangerous to work under their roofs. Such buildings should be demolished to create space for new and modern structures to be set up.
An organization should renovate its buildings to have a good working environment, and thus retain employees. For example, painting the building to attract customers is also important. Consequently, companies should consider the type of machines or facilities they use in the sense that they should change the machines and equipments depending on the changes that happen (OECD 1996).
For instance, if a certain machine becomes obsolete, it should be replaced with new and advanced ones that come up. This ensures that the organization remains at per with the dynamic nature of technology. It also makes a business to be at a position to compete effectively in the market with other enterprises since it is well equipped with all the necessary and modern facilities.
Such are changes that an organization should effect concerning infrastructure and facilities, which if not done early enough and on a regular basis may lead to gross negative consequences. Dana (2006) asserts that change in infrastructure ensures that an organization runs its operations in a place and facilities that are up to the required standards.
However, such changes may also be termed as only beneficial to the well-being of the business, but ineffective to the employees as they may mean loss of job opportunities. To retain the employees within business operations, Fahey and Randall (2001) suggest that there is a need for the HRM to have other structures underway to replace the old ones. This in a way reduces loss of job opportunities to most employees.
Change of Operations
A business should be dynamic as far as the mode of carrying out its operations is concerned. Some of the activities that should change are purchasing, financial management, human resource management, sales and marketing, and any other activity within the organization.
All these are part of the management procedure of a business and they keep on changing with time since new developments occur every day in all these sectors of business management. According to Tuner (2003), it is the duty of the organization head to seek information regarding any new development that might have cropped, which is significant enough to be incorporated into the business.
Failure of a business to be keep updating its system of operations might lead to a scenario whereby the firm lags behind in the market since it has not equipped itself with the latest management techniques. Furthermore, an organization should regularly update any emerging issue that has some concern on it so that it can always be on the safe side of the law.
Business have laws and regulations that guide the manner they should carry out their activities and it is evident enough that these laws and regulations are not fixed, but rather keep changing and others are added regularly. Therefore, it is essential to be on the look out to be at a position to learn anything new pertaining the legislature and guidelines that have come up or modified from older ones.
This will make a business never to be accused of doing its activities contrary to the stipulations of laws and regulations. Similarly, this aspect may trigger the organization to perform restructuring that may affect the labor force employed in the business (Briscoe &Claus 2008).
Policies to Facilitate Change and Innovation
Professionally Based Recruitment
Recruitment method is one of the most important aspects that HRM of any business organization consider to ensure that the personnel team is competent enough to handle their respective duties. The strategic, tactical, and operational levels of management within HRM must work together in the process.
According to Achilles and Harris (2007), most organizations have failed to meet their objectives due to poor procedures of procuring employees in the sense that some do not keenly check on the required qualifications and competence levels of the people who seek jobs in their businesses.
The duty of recruiting and managing the human resource of a company is under the HRM hence such a person should be very cautious as he/she handles the process of getting employees to work in different departments and levels in an organization. This therefore calls for a thorough interview of all the people who are short-listed to appear for an interview (United Nations 2010).
This also goes hand in hand with finding new opportunities for employees affected by the changes within an organization.
Proper Orientation and Training
The HRM should take the responsibility of arranging how new employees will be taken through an orientation session before being fully mandated to handle their respective duties in organization. This is very important since it allows the fresh employees familiarize with new environment; get to interact with the already existing employees and at the same gives a person time to adjust to the new system.
Some jobs do not require orientation, but also needs an employee to go through a training program because maybe the job description entails specific knowledge and experience (OECD 1996). This enables an employee to learn how to carry out the operations of the new job in the best way possible and as per the stipulations and expectations of the organization.
Such procedures might call for an extra expense to be incurred, but the result is to the benefits of the business since the new team of personnel will be at a position to deliver quality work after the training. This is relevant especially to companies where technological system is dynamic in the sense they keep on changing the kind of technology and mechanism mostly to meet the demands of their customers or due to the regulations that stipulate the kind of technology used at a particular time (Winch 1994).
Teamwork Spirit (Synergy)
The HRM is also supposed to advocate for a teamwork spirit among the employees of an organization. Teamwork can either be on general perspective and at the same narrowed down to departmental levels. Working as a team refers to handling duties with a common goal, which calls for a great deal a cooperation among the staff in the sense that they assist one another rather than a staff working alone to complete his or her duties first.
The spirit of working with a common objective is important because it makes the employees to share ideas and set their own strategic plans that enable them accomplish their own targets and meet the objectives set by the organization (Briscoe & Schuler 2008).
For a company to be at position to implement change and innovation, it requires a team of staff that is willing to pull efforts together to see to it that the all the processes involved in the implementations put into place; all the levels of management must collaborate to set strategies for the realization of short-term and-term goals.
It is much easier for a company to conform to an innovative system all if it has employees who work as a team since it will be easy to inculcate the ideas to them as a group rather than when they have decentralized nature (Voepel, Leibold, and Tekie 2006).
Losing such employees in an organization due to changes in the restructuring process would therefore be a challenge to the organization. It would be fair if an organization would plan a transfer of the employees to where an organization is restructured. Other policies that may also be implemented include; proper communication and ethics (Rebecca van Dijk and Rolf van Dick 2009).
Conclusion
The process of introducing change and managing change in an organization is not a simple task, as it requires the consent of all staffs from strategic, tactical, and operational levels. There are a number of challenges that managers who initiate these changes are bound to face in the course of trying to integrate the changes in the system of the firm.
For instance, some changes that managers try to introduce into the company might be very hard for the employees to adopt hence taking a long time for the latter to adjust to the changes. Some of the changes that give managers a hectic time include technology, and this is because the kind of technological advancements are introduced are very intricate hence giving people a hard time to learn how they should be applied in the operation of the organization.
It therefore calls for a training and orientation program arranged for the staff to enable them to familiarize and learn how to use the new technology. Some changes are also expensive to execute because they require things such acquisition of new items such as machines and labor costs for installation.
It is also evident that in some organizations some reforms can cause an adverse towards the smooth running of their operations if not gradually incorporated into the system of the business. In such instances, a manager should institute methods that will ensure that changes that can disrupt the activities of the organization are implemented in a systematic and cautious way to avoid such eventualities.
Managers should also be cautious on the kind of reforms they make in the organization since some of them do not have any help while they incur costs for no good reason. Other reforms might have a completely effect towards the company in the sense that they may lead to undesirable implications. Therefore, human resource managers must restructure the operations of the company inline with the business environment to recruit and retain skilled employees.
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