The role of HR has changed significantly in organizations due to the external business environment. Some of the forces that have shaped human resources are funding and staffing issues. There is widespread competition among organizations and they struggle to survive. You need to make financing decisions and put some techniques in place to meet the changing needs of the market. Competition brings uncertainty and unpredictability. Organizations cannot plan ahead, economic trends and the changing face of HR all play a role in these radical changes. An example is outsourcing. Outsourcing promotes benefits such as: Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay• reduced costs, access to expertise not available within HR, greater flexibility and rapid responses, allowing HR to focus on other tasks. It also promotes problems such as: • rising rates from suppliers, quick and short-term decisions on what can be outsourced and, in general, lower employee morale. Dave Ulrich has identified four key segments of HR, which make an organization effective for employees. Strategic partner, change agent, administrative expert, employee advocate. He proposes to change the structure of the HR Model. As with everything, it often doesn't matter what you do, but how, or rather how intelligently, you do it,” Ulrich said. (1). He also talked about the Three-Legged Stool model or the Business Partner model. As described by Koganpage.com (2), it consists of:- Centers of Excellence: specializing in the provision of high-level recruitment consultancy and services. - Strategic business partners: work with line managers to help them achieve their objectives through effective strategy formulation and execution. They are often "embedded" in business units or departments. - Shared Service Centers: manage all the company's routine "transactional" services. These include activities such as recruitment, monitoring absences and advising on how to deal with employee issues such as discipline and absenteeism. Ulrich argues that to survive every organization must have these areas so that HR becomes a more strategic contributor and maximizes its contribution to business performance. Every organization must adhere to its own professional ethics based on principles that determine how the organization's employees behave. It is crucial for an organization to promote brand values such as caring for the well-being of its staff. Be respectful of employee privacy and address their individual needs. They must be a “facilitator” to promote knowledge and experience by helping to decide on the most appropriate solutions. An organization is responsible for the quality and efficiency of the services it provides and acts in the best interests of its customers. It needs to evaluate its current position and identify its key strategies and plans. Goals must be set and achieved. These could include costs; control the use of resources in the most productive way. Recruit and retain staff and offer more training and development opportunities. Also introducing flexible working hours to work with organizations changing business needs. As he said (Reilly and Williams, 2006) (3): the future of the HR function comes back to capabilityof human resources and its ability to learn, especially from other functions, about data, customer experience and branding. Structures can change and influence, but what is key is the quality of the HR staff, their ability to innovate and help the company improve. Tools for Analyzing the Business Environment There are many tools for measuring performance and setting goals. Business analysis models are useful techniques and tools that can help you understand an organizational environment and think more strategically about the business. I will focus on two models: PESTLEE analysis and Porter's Five Forces. PESTLEE represents six external factors that influence a company: political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental. PESTLEE analysis can be used for business and strategic planning, major organizational changes, research, marketing planning, etc. The PESTLEE model has come to understand how external factors affect a business or organization and can help to:• determine the long-term effect on a company's performance and operations • review any strategies in place • develop a new direction, product or plan for your business • identify solutions to problems • gain a strategic advantage over competitors • evaluate the risks associated with the markets you are interested in ( 2018) Porters Five Forces was a tool created by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter, to analyze the attractiveness and probable profitability of a sector. It is used to examine the strength of five important factors affecting competition: potential competitors, threats from any new competitors, and the threats they pose. How easily they can enter the market.existing competitors: the number and strength of competitors. How many rivals are there? Who are they and how does the quality of their products and services compare to ours? Where rivalry is intense, companies can attract customers with price cuts and marketing campaigns. Where competitive rivalry is minimal and no one else does what you do, then you are likely to make huge, healthy profits. Buyers: How easy it is for buyers to lower your prices. How many buyers are there and how large are their orders? How much would it cost them to switch from your products and services to those of a rival? Are your buyers strong enough to dictate terms to you? When you deal with only a few customers, they have more power, but your power increases if you have many customers. Suppliers: This is determined by how easy it is for your suppliers to increase their prices. How many potential suppliers do you have? How unique is the product or service they provide and how expensive would it be to switch from one supplier to another? The more you have available, the easier it will be to switch to a cheaper alternative. But the fewer suppliers there are, and the more you need their help, the stronger their position and their ability to charge you more. This can affect your profits. Alternative products/services: Refers to the likelihood that your customers will find a different way of doing what you do. A replacement that is easy and cheap to make can weaken your position and threaten your profitability. Using this model, you can build strategies to keep up with influences. It's also helpful because once you understand the forces in your organization that can impact profitability, you'll be able to adapt your strategies accordingly. For example, you might take advantage of a situation or make improvements where required and avoid taking wrong steps in the future. Porter's five forces are brought together in the following model: (Anon., 2018) Thinking about how each force influences an organization and, identifying its strength anddirection, you can quickly evaluate a position. You can then examine any strategic changes needed to achieve long-term profits. Factors affecting an organization and its HR function All organizations must continuously monitor internal and external environmental factors and adapt their HR strategies accordingly. These may include competition, legislation, employee relations, to list just a few. An external factor that affects any organization is competition. It is crucial for an organization to be aware of its competitive market. That is, during recruitment HR should focus on hiring development and attending job fairs to promote the organization and attract the right staff. There should be incentives to retain valuable employees. Technology is another external factor that influences a business organization. The rapid development of technology has meant that staff are able to communicate with colleagues, suppliers, customers at the touch of a button. This advancement allows the organization to keep up with different market demands. The Internet, for example, has enabled organizations to work in 'real time', impacting the skills required to perform a task, role structures, employee working hours and the overall role and work of human resources. On the other hand, however, technology will mean that we will need many fewer jobs. As technologies are introduced into an HR department, one might consider downsizing and ways to save money where possible. Although the number of manual jobs has reduced, other jobs are still present and, rather than entering a period of leisure, some staff find themselves working long hours and therefore remaining with the organization for a period of longer time, which means more HR paperwork in terms of appraisals, professional development, etc. Another external factor is the carbon footprint. All organizations are under pressure to be aware of their environment and ensure they follow green measures to reduce their carbon footprint, reduce waste and encourage recycling. Another driver of change within an organization could be the growing diversity of its workforce demographics. . These could take the form of employee expectations, with some seeking to optimize work-life balance while others seek meaning and purpose for being at work. The 9 to 5, Monday to Friday employee is changing dramatically with more staff working reduced hours or shift work or job sharing. Just as managers may become increasingly impatient with any sign of a burdensome HR system, employees will increasingly expect immediate responses and answers to any problem. The Human Resources department must listen to its staff and follow appropriate procedures to avoid conflicts or sanctions. Government regulations are an external factor that will affect an organization and its Human Resources department. Any compliance standards must be achieved by human resources and respected by law. These could include hiring, firing, compensation, training etc., in particular the processing and storage of personal data in terms of the new GDPR policy. As (Reilly and Williams, 2006) (Williams, 2006) stated: “Ultimately, the future of as far as the HR function is concerned, it all comes back to the capacity of human resources and its ability tolearn, especially from other functions, about data, customer experience, branding and the like. Structures may change one way or another, but what is key is the quality of the HR staff, their ability to innovate and help the company improve. intends to undertake to achieve its long-term goals and objectives. An HR strategy refers to an organization's use of human resources to keep itself afloat and ahead in its competitive environment. A good business strategy is one that is likely to be successful; therefore there is a greater need for HR strategies in an organization. The HR function is a strategic partner in formulating the organization's strategies and implementing those strategies through human resources. This could include recruitment, motivation, reward, etc. Any strategy you set must reflect the mission and vision of the organization and the goals it needs to achieve. The role of human resources is constantly developing and growing in the implementation of strategies. As Taylor and Woodhams (2016) pointed out (Taylor, n.d.) business strategy is developed through three approaches: these are: rational/classical emergent/logical incrementalism and symbolic/radical. The rational/classical approach is the most common approach used and is mainly used by more senior members of an organization. External and internal factors are continuously taken into consideration using SWOT analysis so that the organization knows which strategic direction to take. Subsequently, the resources are brought together and identified to implement the chosen strategy. (Mintzberg, 1990) have clearly identified the "basic premises" of the classical approach as (Anon., 2018) the disciplined "willingness and ability of managers to adopt profit maximization strategies through long-term rational planning" (Whittington , 2001: 15). He questioned the feasibility of adopting this approach as a model for prescribing best practices or as an analysis model, as he sees it as an inflexible and oversimplified view of the "strategy creation" process, which relies too heavily on models military and their implications. presupposes a culture of discipline. An emergent strategy emerges over time as it responds to its internal and external factors. Emergent strategy is a set of actions, or behaviors, consistent over time, “a realized pattern [that] was not expressly foreseen” (Anon., 2018) in the original planning of the strategy. An emergent strategy develops when an organization takes a series of actions that over time develop into a consistent pattern of behavior, regardless of intentions. An emergent strategy involves an organization learning what works in practice. Finally, the symbolic/radical approach is centered on innovation and is a much more complicated process. It involves a difficult, long and risky process. An organization does not fight for a market share. Rather, it creates a new market for itself, distancing itself from any competition. This could give an organization the ability to monopolize a market, setting the rules for making its own profit. New areas are wide open for further developments and ideas. Once a new innovation is created, the options for further innovation are generally high. (Anon., 2018) The success of an organization is highly dependent on its skills, knowledge and capabilities of its people. Professional ethics must be respected when determining the behavior of staff. (team, 2018) Porter's five forces are a simple but powerful tool for understanding the competitiveness of an environment.
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