Human Resources Articles

The time of grueling examinations is over and for most of the management prospects; whether they are fresh out of college or the ones who have already left their jobs dreaming of a fat pay cheque, MBA is a sure shot ticket to enter the corporate world and fulfill their dreams. But like thousands of students who enter the gates of a B School every year, the realms of reality often fell heavy on their heads in the form of books and presentations.

The concept of bell curve was introduced in 1970s by Jack Welch, General Electric’s former executive to know the relative performance of employees working in his organization and it identified the four measuring standards to rate its employees like high level of energy, synching the employees goals towards the organisational goals, ability to take the decision, and the determination to take up and deliver the responsibilities within a stipulated time. It uses the law of averages or standard deviation. The centre of the curve depicts the majority of employees of the organization that fall under the category of average performers. The tail of the curve represents the underperformers and the top performers. Thus a bell curve divides its employees majorly into three categories dreadful competitors, stars or the hyper performers of the organisation and the rump the major lot of the organisation which lies in the middle.

Times are a-changing in the HR landscape. Gone are the days when employees would spend all their lives bound loyally to one organisation. This decade is all about the here and now - and job hopping is becoming more and more common. Employees do not hesitate to move from one company to another, looking out for the best benefits, the biggest value add they can get - the most personal learning that their role will incorporate.

In the times of globalization, organizations require that people who are from diverse backgrounds should interact in an efficient manner. People have stopped living in an insular environment as they are working in a global economy which constantly competes within a global fabric. In order to remain competitive, both non-profit and profit organizations should be more diversified. But the management has an important issue at hand, that is capitalizing and maximizing the workplace diversity. Workplace diversity, in essence, is the focus on the similarities and differences which people from diverse backgrounds bring to a firm. As the societies are becoming increasingly multicultural, the success of organizations depends on how well it recognizes the demand for an immediate step for managing the workplace diversity, along with the willingness to allocate resources to it in the workplace.

David Ulrich made waves when he published the above paper delineating the importance of the Human Resources regarding mandates for HR managers in a company. In a time where HR could not have been thought to be more redundant, David Ulrich successfully identified four spheres or mandates where its need was in fact imminent. Very simply put, David Ulrich believed that the basic purpose of HR was to achieve organizational efficiency. This was a different concept not thought of even by veteran management pundits who believed that the HR existed only for washing senior management’s laundry. The HR was supposed to be limited to the mundane job of filing papers and being a regulatory watchdog.

Can we imagine an organization without a human resource department? Can we imagine once most sought after course MBA - HR, not finding any/few contenders to apply for? Can we imagine no/very little human interaction before you actually join a new job?

Technology has constantly been changing and its impact is visible not only in business but also how human resources as a function operates. People management, skill development, trainings etc are all guided by technology. This helps employees iron out any flaws in their personality and helps build a superior workforce for maximizing business and productivity.